Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Kindle Contest Winner
Monday, February 22, 2010
Guest Blog: What makes a solid logo - by Amber Mabe
Thursday, February 18, 2010
life without Internet
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Design a Kindle Contest
The Amazon Kindle is simple, basic, and white. It needs a bit of fun added to it. Using the photo above, design an image that could be manufactured on a Kindle cover. It can include a variety of colors, words, images, as you choose. (Excluding profanity & graphic images.) Submit your design by leaving a link in the comment section below. (i.e. Post the link to your Flickr photo.)
What's in a label
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Trending Tuesday: Trends I can't explain
Monday, February 15, 2010
Don't skimp on the ketchup! Media Monday: Word of Mouth
Friday, February 12, 2010
Preparing for the Upturn
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Shop Critique: BridalJewelry4u
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Day Off
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Trending Tuesday: Blippy
Monday, February 8, 2010
Media Monday: Developing content for the web
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Weekend Break
The Egg Team, a new Etsy team that I have joined, is sponsoring a little contest on their blog. Enter to win a swag bag full of gifts from Egg Team sellers!
See you Monday!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Business Cards
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Shop Critique: Divine3Designs
To much ado, the first shop critique is here! I had some difficulty in selecting the first shop to review. I thought at first to go in order of requests, but then one shop stuck in my head: Divine 3 Designs, a jewelry shop located in central Virginia.
Divine3Designs understands the basics of branding. Her shop name, banner, and avatar are consistent. She has a graphic theme that runs throughout her site; plus, she puts her logo on her gift certificates. Immediately, stepping into her shop, I know what she sells, what she stands for, and I start to have a brand experience. Plus, I can connect to her through her blog, Facebook, Twitter, and her all-encompassing website. I admire her for drawing me in - something is working if she can get into an advertiser's head!
My primary concern with her shop is the shop announcement. Immediately we are hit with a "my product is one-of-a-kind" announcement. I find this a bit redundant, because if we're on Etsy, I hope we are paying for one-of-a-kind! What I want to know is her story. She's started to tell me the beginning of a story with her brand visuals, but then stopped. In order to help with a brand story, I asked Divine3Designs to tell me about her target audience.
Divine3Designs describes her target market as:
Professional women who want distinctive, simple, timeless, versatile, handmade jewelry to help them accessorize without settling for the trendy. They would say: "I'm a busy woman who doesn't have time to constantly keep up with what is "in" today - I want jewelry that is comfortable and goes with many of my clothes. It shouldn't say "trendy" but whispers distinctive style that will last for years."
Excellent! She nailed that one. Right away, I know she is speaking to an aged 25 - 55 group of women who dress in classic, timeless pieces.
We now need to translate her thoughts into an opening line for her shop. Some of my thoughts travel to:
- I don’t want to look like I shop at Claire’s. I want to be real.
- There is jewelry that visits your jewelry box briefly; it comes and goes; and there are pieces that stay around forever.
- There are everyday pieces and there are pieces that make a statement.
With those thoughts in mind, I’d suggest an opening message like this:
“I create classic, timeless pieces meant to take up permanent residence in your jewelry box. They’ll become your reliables - the pieces that travel with you to work, to weddings, and through wonderful memories.
My fine artisan jewelry is made with versatile materials: Gold, Silver, Copper, Brass Gemstones, and Dichroic Glass.”
Now we have a brand experience and we’ve managed to include the key search terms. Design3Designs excels at bringing this brand experience throughout her listings. Read her listings – she tells you a story about each of the products. You learn how the product is made or you imagine wearing the jewelry. Boom, congratulations, you have just had a brand experience!
Divine3Designs should make sure this brand experience translates to all of her external Etsy sites – I’d like to see the same brand story appear on her website homepage, in her Twitter bio, and on Facebook. Her promotions should also stay consistent across all of the websites, as to not confuse her customers. When she has a sale, the package that arrives in the mail should remind the customer of the online experience; the package should include a business card with the shop logo and packaging that is timeless and classic.
Overall, I give Divine3Design an A.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Having a brand experience
- Stylized logos
- Innovative Product Designs
- Social communities centered around the product
- Informative websites filled with rich content
- Lack of "in your face, buy my product now" salespeople
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Trending Tuesday: The Library
Monday, February 1, 2010
Media Monday: Reaching your target market through advertising
From our previous posts, we've talked about putting a face on your target market. Today we are going to imagine what it is like to walk through a day-in-the-life of the consumer in your target audience. On some scratch paper, take a minute and answer the following questions about yourself:
- What newspapers and magazines do you read each week? Do you read them online or in print?
- What TV shows do you watch each day? Do you DVR them? Do you watch them online?
- What radio stations do you listen to? Do you listen online or in the car?
- Do you take a bus/car/subway to work/school/errands?
- What shops do you attend each week? (i.e. grocery store, bookstore, craft shop etc.)
You should have a substantial list of media outlets that you interact with on a daily basis. Now, think of the advertising you have seen in each of those media outlets. There should be print ads, online banner ads, TV commercials, radio commercials and announcements, and outdoor ads (billboards, bus stops, subway tunnels), and in-store promotions like "buy one, get one free." Each of these ads is an attempt for an advertiser to reach you with a message about their product or brand.
Do the same exercise for your target market, only this time, be the brand. Think of how many ways you can reach your audience throughout their day. A tool to help you envision life in your audience's shoes is Prizm, an online market segmentation tool provided by Nielsen. It will give you pre-set market descriptions and an idea of your target's lifestyle. If you take time to think through a day in the life of a customer in your target audience, you will have a better feel for where to spend your advertising dollar.
Note on Prizm: You may have to re-enter the security code to view every market segment. If you get kicked to the home page, click on "You are where you live" to link to the zip code tool.