Many people outside the field don’t realize it, but most graphic designers are also experienced marketing consultants. These two fields are so closely related that there is a great deal of overlap in the duties and required skill set. In fact, many of the concepts used by marketing consultants also go into the development of a custom logo or just about any graphic project. Here are just a few of the areas in which professional graphic design and brand marketing overlap.
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The American Growth Fund (AGF) Management Limited was launched in 1957 to pool the funds of Canadian investors giving them greater access to the U.S. market through the New York Stock Exchange leading to the co-founders building a company that is innovative, focused on clients and driven by superior investment management, characteristics that continue to drive AGF more than five decades later.

Today, AGF Management Limited serves more than one million investors with offerings across the wealth continuum.
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Logo Client: Continuum Productions Inc.

Logo Category: Marketing Logos

Logo Design Style: Iconic Logos

Logo Design Used In: Oakville, ON, Canada

Logo Design Project Summary: Continuum Productions produce home & garden consumer shows (similar to trade shows, but for the general public). They strive to create fun, interactive, and professional environments where exhibitors (home interest companies that rent exhibit space and/or purchase sponsorships) get together with consumers who are looking for design ideas or to buy directly for their homes & gardens.
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Although consumers in general plan to spend less this holiday, online shopping is still growing. If you are running an e-commerce store, this is the busiest and most competitive time of the year so you should be more aggressive to increase your sales.

Although there are many Internet marketing strategies and tactics today, email marketing logos continues to be an effective and cost-efficient strong weapon of choice. According to Direct Marketing Association, “For every dollar spent on email marketing in 2007, marketers can expect an estimated $48.29 ROI. Without a doubt, email marketing achieves the greatest ROI of all marketing channels we look at.”

Another statistics from Shop.org shows that email delivers sales at an average cost per order of less than $7, compared to $71.89 for banner ads, $26.75 for paid search and $17.47 for affiliate programs.

Here are 2 clever ways to use email marketing this holiday season:

  1. Suggest a gift. Offer gift ideas and packages specific to a person like dad, mom, friend, lover, brothers or sisters. This will make shopping a lot easier for many of your customers.
  2. Offer Christmas deals. Most consumers are in the mood for shopping these days so why not offer a promo they simply can’t resist? This will encourage them to buy more in return for a small concession like incremental discounts (example: 10% for purchase above $100, 15% for above $200, etc.)

Word-of-mouth marketing is all about encouraging your target customers to share their thoughts and engage in a meaningful dialogue about your products or services.

Most small business owners agree that word-of-mouth marketing is a very effective way to promote products or services. It is rooted on our habits to ask our family or friends every time we like to buy something. In fact, more than 80% of consumers trust recommendations coming from family, friends, and other influential people over other forms of marketing

So, it’s not really surprising to know spending on word-of-mouth marketing is growing at a very fast pace. According to a research company PQ Media, spending on word-of-mouth (WoM) marketing jumped 35.9% in 2006 to $981.0 million and is expected to top $1 billion in 2007. It is also predicted to reach $3.7 billion by 2011.

Thanks to new media alternatives like logo design blogs, social networking sites, and other Web 2.0 style logo technologies, many big and small businesses are allotting more money in these campaigns.

It’s a wake up call for many small business owners to pay more attention to word-of-mouth marketing and learn to integrate it to their overall campaigns. Although online activities like blogging is a popular choice, about 90% of word-of-mouth still take place offline or in the community.