Dan Mulhern Design, Graphic Designer, Murrieta, CA

November 16th, 2011 | No Comments »

With year end approaching, now is the time to step back from the daily business minutiae to see the big picture. What areas are you going to improve on in 2012? When was the last time your print collateral, website and social media pages have been updated? This time of year is the perfect time for the proverbial “killing two birds with one stone”; by investing in new advertising and web design, you can secure additional tax deductions for your business.

In most cases, advertising expenses can act as a tax deduction for small business owners. Consider printing business cards, paid print advertising costs, and costs for setting up your business website. While certain restrictions may apply and a tax consultant should always help determine the appropriate and eligible amounts of the deduction, these examples are worthwhile investments in your business that can reap huge benefits on your bottom line and your tax liabilities.

Here are some areas you might consider updating and/or upgrading for a more cohesive marketing campaign:

• Website design
• Logo/Business Card design
• Branded social media banners, backgrounds and landing pages (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube)
• Flyers/Brochures/Print Ads with social media links & QR codes
• Business head shots or team photos

Many business owners find themselves operating with a fragmented approach. Perhaps your marketing collateral has been slowly collecting dust since its first design, but is your business the exact same today as it was when the piece was originally created? Surely there is something new to include such as stronger calls to action, social media and email marketing campaign links, opt-in incentives and recent testimonials.

Dan Mulhern Design is able to accommodate any graphic design needs your business may have to propel itself towards a fresh start in 2012. For personalized quotes on any of the bullet points listed above, please visit our contact page and submit an inquiry.

September 16th, 2011 | No Comments »

Every successful business owner has their speciality, the one thing that sets them apart from all others. With that said I’m going to tell you a little story boys and girls so sit back, relax and read on…

This story takes place shortly after prohibition. The only type of alcohol that was readily available was Gin. At that time Gin came from Holland, one of the only places the U.S was still in trade with. The bar owners across the country all had stockpiles of Gin, and only Gin. This is where the story gets started (I promise!!)

Once upon a time (true story by the way) long ago, in a land far far away (Rhode Island to be exact) there was a struggling bar owner. All the bars, at this time, had only one type of alcohol to sell…..Gin! This bar owner knew he had to do SOMETHING to attract customers, and to get rid of all this Gin in his stockroom. What could he do to get people wanting to go to his bar to get the same thing they can get anywhere?? What could he possibly create with only Gin that would make people choose his bar over all others? Then he had an idea! He decided he was going to create a fictional character by the name of Tom Collins. He then started showing up at his competitors establishments and would take a seat at the bar. That’s where he started talking about this man by the name of Tom Collins. “You’ve NEVER heard of Tom Collins??” He’d ask the people sitting close by. Anyone who’s Anyone knows Tom Collins, he’s the GREATEST!!

Soon he was traveling from bar to bar spreading the word about Tom Collins…..THEE TOM COLLINS!! Word began to spread like wildfire! Everyone was talking about Tom Collins. People were even saying they had met Tom Collins and were friends with him. A few weeks went by and the bar owner knew then it was time to put his plan into action. He created what we know of today as a Tom Collins drink made up of, you guessed it, GIN, sweet & sour and soda with a cherry. This was the ONLY thing ‘Tom Collins’ would drink. So the owner started spreading the rumor that Tom Collins himself was expected to stop by his bar in the next few days while he was in town on business. Obviously he was the only one who knew what Tom Collins liked to drink. So people started coming in day after day hoping to get the chance to meet Mr. Collins. Meanwhile the bartender would offer to make them Tom Collins’ preferred drink while they waited. Of course everyone wanted to drink the same thing as such an AMAZING man!

Needless to say he accomplished what he had set out to do. First was to get people into his bar and second get rid of all the Gin that up until that point was completely worthless.

So, I ask you, as a business owner, what is it that you offer your clients that sets you apart from your competition? What makes you special? What’s your Tom Collins?

June 18th, 2011 | No Comments »

Did you know that it takes up to 6 times the resources to make a sale from a new client than it does from an existing customer? Are you currently spending your advertising dollars in general advertising that doesn’t target anyone specifically? Email marketing, when done properly and consistently, can significantly increase the rate of return on your spent marketing dollar. The reason is because you are targeting an audience who currently uses your services, has used them in the past, or has purposefully signed up to receive email marketing updates from you. Investing your money in a campaign that targets people who want to hear from you is a wise investment in your business. We are here to ensure you don’t miss out on this critical element of business success and growth.

Sea Squared Marketing has teamed up with Constant Contact® to provide professional, customized, affordable email campaigns that help to increase name recognition and grow your client database. More than 350,000 organizations worldwide use Constant Contact’s industry-leading email marketing and online survey tools. Together, we can create professional-looking email communications and online surveys to inform your audience and get feedback that ultimately result in closer relationships and tangible business growth.

With Email Marketing by Constant Contact, you can:

• Create highly visual, professional-looking email newsletters and promotions.
• Drive more traffic to your website with focused, targeted email communications.
• Build and manage your email list: import existing customer lists, add names individually, or capture contact information from website visitors.
• Measure your email campaign results instantly-check click-through rates, review new subscribers, and see who opened and clicked on each link so you can tailor your follow-up communications.
• Send automated communications to new sign-ups via an auto responder tool.
• Communicate with your audience with confidence, knowing that Constant Contact will take care of getting your email delivered and keep you CAN-SPAM compliant.

The information provided has been brought to you by Sea Squared Marketing

http://www.seasquaredmarketing.com/

May 6th, 2011 | 3 Comments »

Why don’t we start this story from the beginning. There once was a “young” man by the name of, we’ll just call him Stan. Stan owned a successful small graphic design business and was well known throughout the area. He enjoys listening to music, playing guitar and an occasional Hot Pocket. Stan’s a real people person and that brings me to the infamous “Day After Cinco de Mayo” story.

Stan was in his office finishing up a couple projects he had going when his phone rang. It was his friend Landon. Landon had a party he was going to and wanted Stan to accompany him. But it was a dress up party and everyone had to wear their best Cinco de Mayo costume in order to get in. Stan agreed and Landon picked him up. On their way to the party, Landon needed to stop and grab a few things. They pulled into a liquor store parking lot and went inside. While inside Stan met a very nice man who was telling them about this gang of thieves who were threatening to kidnap anyone who was wearing a sombrero and/or a multi-colored poncho. Stan and Landon laughed then thanked the man for the heads up. The two guys got in their car and headed for the party. Stan and Landon were the last guests to arrive and so they were told to drink a shot. The party was going great, lots of music, food and booze. It wasn’t until around 3am when Landon realized he hadn’t seen Stan in awhile. He started asking around if anyone had seen him. No one knew where Stan had stubbled off too. About 4:30am I received this text message:

“We have your friend and instead of killing him we have decided to offer him a challenge.” This is where I think being a people person may have saved him!! “The challenge is he MUST drink the entire bottle of Hot Sauce in 15 seconds or eat BOTH maracas!!”

Needless to say I’ve yet to hear from Stan and I’m obviously concerned he was unable to finish that bottle of hot sauce in 15 seconds. Here’s the last photo that was sent…

April 14th, 2011 | 1 Comment »

April 14th, 2011 | No Comments »

An entrepreneur or small business owner can learn a great deal studying how corporate trendsetters—Kodak, Dell Computers, Ford Motor Company and Starbucks, for example—use blogs, Facebook fan pages, Twitter and YouTube to promote their companies. ~ Success Magazine

The last thing a company wants to do is appear to be narcissistic.   The goal should be to ask questions that generate a response from consumers.  A great way to do this is write something controversial & ask for their opinion.  Replying and engaging with your target audience is key.  Then take it a step further and reply to new followers.  This lets them know you’re human.

Keep in mind, people like humor & probably prefer not to fall asleep (unless your business is sleeping medication…if that’s the case the blander the better!) Most of us prefer our audience to be awake, however.  I don’t know about you but I LOVE clever commercials that make me laugh.  A personal favorite is the AT&T commercial where the two guys are sitting on the ski lift and one guy asks the other if he’d mind if he asks his ex girlfriend out. The guy says “sure we broke up 6 months ago…but I don’t think she’d go for a guy like you” when the friend interrupts and says “she said she’d love too, has been wanting me to ask her out for over a year now….oh look she sent me a video” and while the video’s downloading the friend grabs the phone out of his hand and throws it.  I laugh EVERY TIME! Just so happens I’m an AT&T customer (even though my phone drops calls constantly).  See, FUNNY WORKS!!

Obviously being hilarious isn’t enough. Consumers want to know what’s in it for them.  Give some product comparisons.  What makes your company the better deal?  Your goal should be to get the customer to request a catalog or to sign up for free consulting…or better yet, buy your product!

March 3rd, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Really the title sounds much cooler than what I’m getting ready to say, so I’ll try and spice up the topic a bit (but seriously it’s about brochures and catalogs…so try not to set your expectations too high.  Most likely you’re going to be very disappointed…or asleep.

Brochures and Catalogs both have the same goal – to sell a product or service to a specific target market (kind of bland I know).  The difference between them, which some would call GOOD vs. EVIL but in this case has absolutely nothing to do with what I’m about to say (like I said I’m attempting to make this topic cool…getting a little spicy??).  So as I was saying, the difference between the two is that Catalogs contain a variety of different products and are delivered to the customer without a sales person to help persuade them into action.  That’s why the Catalog must work harder to engage the viewer through beautiful photography and detailed descriptions.  Brochures on the other hand tend to feature only one line of products or services and are used as leave-behind pieces by salespeople who will ultimately follow up with a customer…

…unless you have beautiful sales people.  If that’s the case just put THEM in the catalog and brochure.  Then everybody wins!! (How SPICY was that??!!)

February 15th, 2011 | No Comments »

In today’s market, businesses must have an online presence to even stand a chance at being successful. Unfortunately just having one still isn’t enough! Your website says a lot about your company and in most cases is the first impression on a potential client. That’s why it’s so important to stand out from your competition. You want someone who’s visiting your site to not only be impressed with how it looks, but also actually want to continue looking around on YOUR website. The longer someone stays on a website the better the chances are of them actually making a purchase. Talk about having a quality lead. Why would you want to loose this potential business because you either don’t have a website for them to look at or because it’s so boring and/or unattractive that they move on. Sure you may be the better deal, but it’s kind of like dating. Just because you’re a better person on the inside, the guy or girl who gives the better first impression, 9 times out of 10, is going to get the attention. I didn’t make the rules, it’s just the harsh reality. So don’t be the unattractive, but sweet and loyal, dweeb that no one even gives a chance. You have the option of being the Gorgeous Rico (or Rica) Suave who closes the deal every time!! So GO GET EM’!!

February 8th, 2011 | No Comments »

Once a company has established it’s customers, the next step is to continue to market their brand so that they can stay ahead of the competition. What would’ve happened if a company like McDonalds stopped marketing their product after their first million hamburgers were sold? You can’t rely on just a good product to sell itself (not exactly referring to McDonalds, but it’s just the analogy I chose to use). Think of how many fast food places have since popped up over the years and McDonalds is still going strong!

Good marketing (and yes this includes creative design!) also encourages new customers to seek information about a brand. Moreover, a product or service heard frequently can create a great word of mouth buzz. What could be better than marketing your brand and having it repeated over and over for FREE?!

January 27th, 2011 | 2 Comments »

TRUE OR FALSE

Any form of corporate identity will act to represent a company, visually creating a brand by default.

FALSE!!

Your business marketing strategy (and really this should NOT include smack’n cards on the streets of vegas) is the single BIGGEST factor, which determines the success or failure of your business. If you look at large corporations (ie: Apple and Microsoft, unlike my personal favorite Fishalicious….have you heard of it?? no?? EXACTLY) you will notice that their brand strategy stands the test of time for MANY years. There are so many companies that NEVER change their logo design dramatically but only make small changes to keep the design looking fresh (still upset Fishalicious went out of business though….their fish tacos were amazing!! Perhaps it was the name??)