Organizations naturally evolve. They grow, expand their services, and often reach audiences they didn’t originally anticipate. But brands don’t always evolve at the same pace. When a brand falls out of sync with the organization it represents, it usually doesn’t happen all at once. It shows up in small ways. Things start to feel just …
Brand building success. As traditional media is eclipsed by new media, the concept of brand building continues to change in unexpected ways. Speed, adaptability, and collaboration are more important than ever before. Success means meeting today’s challenges, but tomorrow’s as well. Here are some strategies we’ve found helpful for building brands that stand up to …
six things to look for in a website redesign Every website is different; yet, the best sites always have a few things in common. As you consider a website redesign for your company or organization, ensure it uses the following: a clear message that creates clarity about your company or organization, what it does, how …
paying attention to your audience We recently offered to make a referral to a partner company that was declined because of terminology. The client wanted “SEO,” the company didn’t want to sell “SEO,” and the connection wasn’t made. Unfortunately, both sides of the equation were ultimately interested in the same business objective: increasing visibility and …
If you use WordPress or another content management system, you already have the ability to provide new and prospective clients with documents through your website. This capability opens up doors for new ways of interacting with people and can help your audience use your site to solve problems and strengthen their connection with your brand. …
With so much marketing taking place through a multitude of different mediums and applications, the tendency is for messages to become ever more fragmented — and more easily forgotten. start with a vision Don’t think of standards and consistency until you have a clear vision about why you are important to your audience and are able …
Framing marketing communications in terms of experience opens up new opportunities for engaging your audience. Our Be in Bellingham campaign is one example of this thinking at work; another is a thank you promotion we recently completed for Shew Design. The purpose of the project was to say thanks to clients and collaborators in a …
A paradox of destination marketing is that while each destination is unique in its own way, the materials and messages people use for different destinations are often indistinguishable from one another. In promoting Bellingham Whatcom County, we wanted to subtly rethink destination marketing to create work that departed from these expectations. We started by making …
Years ago, my initial interpretation of the phrase “victory has a thousand parents, but defeat is an orphan” was a cynical one. My take on it was that if a project goes well, people will claim responsibility. The same people will disavow their role if the project meets with a less favorable outcome. As I …
Despite all predictions to the contrary, print communications still play a crucial role in how organizations reach out to their audience. Print has changed, though. It is now more an elective than a requirement, and like any choice it benefits from planning and thinking ahead. You must print intentionally. This can include details like a …
Most things are more complicated than they need to be. Navigation is no exception. You can fairly easily see what links people use on your website using traffic evaluation tools such as Google Analytics. More importantly, these tools can show you which links people don’t visit. This can help you make informed decisions about revising …
For over a year now, our company has been working with RE Sources for Sustainable Communities and Climate Solutions to create messaging and graphics about the coal train issue. An overview of the issue can be found here. It has been a challenging project. Challenging in the sheer complexity of the issue: the impacts of …
