Great Headline, Anyone?

“I hate to break it to you, but there is no big lie, there is no system, the universe is indifferent.” -Don Draper, Mad Men.

Writing for the web is, as most people know by now, completely different than writing for other mediums. There are things like the structure and length of the paragraph, the use of bullet points, and the sheer amount of content that isn’t quite the same online as a piece you might see in a newspaper. One aspect of writing holds the same level of importance across the board, though, and that is a headline. While a visitor might be indifferent when they reach a site, once they get there it’s up to us to impress. We dazzle with design, and they stay a minute longer to poke around a bit. Then they start actually reading the content, and that’s where we want to hook them.

Embrace the Ownership Mentality.

“The owners mentality is difficult to describe. You either have it or you don’t (although you can learn to have it).”
– Chris Tingom, www.brainfuel.tv

Of course your graphic designers love to design, and your programmers love to develop, your copywriter loves to write, and your AE (hopefully) loves client communication! But do they all have the ownership mentality? It’s undervalued, and it’s what gives smaller studios an exceptional capability to stand up against those larger agencies. It’s not just one person taking the lead with this thought process- it’s everyone taking every fire drill seriously and going to extremes to make sure their end of the job is taken care of- all to satisfy the needs of the client. 

Pride in getting something right should absolutely be the enjoyment of the owner of a small studio, but every owner would want to share that with his/her employees- everyone who touches the project and everyone who doesn’t

An Imperfect Process

There are steps a company takes when looking for an agency or studio to help develop and build their brand. It involves sitting down with someone from each respective studio and getting a feel for what they represent, analyzing the type of work they do, and figuring out what they’d be like to work with in general. Then, after deliberation of sorts, a decision is made. It seems like there should be another step in there, called follow up.

Overheard in a Client Meeting

We had a really great client meeting this morning about a new project. Something really interesting was said as we were wrapping up. “What might cause this idea to fail?” What a fair, and honest question! It asked us not so much about our own skills, and abilities, but about what we had witnessed over […]

Lessons Learned From Lemonade Stand

Lemonade StandLemonade Stand, the old Apple ][ game that taught us all how to run a business is out for iPhone/iPod Touch. We won’t presume to tell you that running a business is as simple Lemonade Stand, but it reminded us of something relevant.

Yes, we know that economy is shaky, and some even say it’s really bad. It’s amazing that so many businesses can forget those lessons we learned from Lemonade Stand so many years ago…

What to do when things are normal
When the weather is normal, you need to advertise. When things are stable there is no risk. You plow ahead advertising as much as you can afford, and tweaking your pricing, and inventory.

What to do in a heat wave