November 2017 – ACS Reduc 2022

The Journey to Great Logo Design

November 28, 2017

We can spend an entire blog talking about what makes a great logo (and we have). However, we think most logo design stories tend to focus more on the end result and less on the process. Often, getting to a worthy final logo takes many steps along a winding journey filled with trial, error, experimentation, collaboration, and strategy. So today we’d like to talk about how we develop great logos (and great design for that matter) by focusing on the journey to our latest Addy Award winner: the Britepaths logo.

It takes a village

At ACS Creative, we believe our best work is the result of friendly and thoughtful collaboration between agency and client. This was especially true of our efforts for Britepaths. In this case, all stakeholders were on-board with not just a logo design, but a total rebranding. The nonprofit’s original name, Our Daily Bread, did not adequately convey their mission to help those in need with temporary assistance while also imparting financial counselors to teach solvency skills. Understanding this core mission was the first step in developing a new brand—and not something we could have accomplished without the initial meetings and interviews that helped us better delineate our client’s needs.

What’s in a name?

We would beg to differ with Shakespeare’s Juliet that a rose by any other name would still be a rose. In our marketing world, names are everything. Company names help convey what that company is about, including its purpose and values. Developing a moniker is an intensive and delicate process. Throw in the factor of domain availability and the task is seemingly impossible. Good thing we like impossible tasks here at ACS! To develop a successful name, we take a methodological approach:

Develop keyword lists and modifiers that help describe the organization.
Consult tools like a visual thesaurus to find variants that might also apply.
Narrow down our potential names to a manageable list of possibilities.
Discuss the merits of each name and choose the top few contenders to develop visual representations.

For this project, we whittled several possible names down to just three potential candidates:

Higher Ground
Avenues of Hope
Britepaths

When everyone agrees, you know it’s good

Achieving consensus with a large group is pretty rare, but in this case, the Britepaths name and logo design were unanimously agreed upon by all involved. We got the buy-in. The reason for the landslide victory? The Britepaths logo, name and overarching brand spoke to several key attributes that perfectly conveyed the nonprofit’s new vision:

A community of mentors with one shared common goal
Finding brighter days when all seems lost
Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel
Finding the path to a better financial future

We couldn’t be happier with the work we accomplished for Britepaths. Not because we won an award, but because we successfully met our client’s challenge—and that’s why we come to work every day. At ACS Creative, we always strive to provide excellent marketing services to the clients who trust us with their brands.

Website Management Made Easy

November 21, 2017

When we design a website, there are always two important people in mind: the person who visits the website and the person who manages the website. Of course, the site has to appeal to customers. But it also has to make life easier for the website manager.

Every website we build has a user-friendly content management system (CMS). So staff members can add website content, without needing advanced technical skills.

We recently launched a website for the Washington Metro Chapter of Community Associations Institute (WMCCAI). They help community associations through advocacy, education, networking events and other services. Their new site provides a great experience for website visitors and WMCCAI staff.

Courting New Members

Members are the heart and soul of any association. Without them, these organizations wouldn’t exist. Appealing to new members was a top priority for the website, but it’s a challenge we had to approach carefully.

For example, you can’t expect someone who walks into a clothing store to buy the first sweater they see. They want to shop around a little. Try on a few different outfits. In that same way, new website visitors won’t want to take action right away. They need time to click around to a few pages. Read more about the association. Feel comfortable before they commit.

We needed to convince potential members to sign up, without expecting too much from them too soon. To build the case for WMCCAI, we developed a custom Membership page. It answers the question, “Why should I join this group?”.

The eye-catching page shows visitors the benefits of membership. It doesn’t expect users to sign up on the spot; it just gives them enough information to spark their curiosity.

Read All About It

One central membership benefit is access to the the monthly magazine, Quorum. The publication offers best practices, strategies and trends for associations. We needed to bring this print publication into the digital world.

The pages are colorful and easy to navigate for website visitors. They also save time for WMCCAI staff. On the backend, we designed a simple content management tool staff members. They don’t need to understand complicated code. They simply need to drag and drop content into this system. That way, they can upload articles on a monthly basis, without needing hours and hours of time for the task.

Signature Content for Signature Events

Members can also learn about upcoming events on the website using a virtual calendar. Visitors can explore different educational, networking and chapter meetings throughout the year.

Every event also has its own webpage. You can learn important details, export the event to your calendar, or contact the event organizer through these helpful pages.

Some of WMCCAI’s events needed a little more attention. Signature events happen every year, building on member memories and momentum. With that in mind, we created these custom pages as templates. These are easy to update, so anyone can switch out the information. Year after year, WMCCAI staff will recreate these event pages, without using HTML code.

We’re happy WMCCAI members and staff will have no hassles or hurdles as they use the new website.

Lessons Learned from Amazon Prime Day

November 14, 2017

When it comes to doing business online, especially e-commerce, Amazon is a safe bet to admire. Since the site’s inception in 1994, Amazon has single-handedly changed the internet’s entire landscape. They’ve had a few flops and plenty of successes over the years, but one fact remains true: There is no better company to gather marketing inspiration from in today’s online marketplace.

Amazon’s annual Prime Day promotion got off to a rocky start in 2015. With a combination of public confusion and lackluster product selection, many considered the event somewhat of a failure. Amazon was determined to redeem themselves over the next couple of years, and they did so in epic fashion.

With its third annual Prime Day subscription promotion this past summer, the shopping giant boosted global orders by 60% during Prime Day in July of 2017. Amazon’s U.S. orders rose by more than 50% and Prime membership sign-up experienced its highest day ever. Even more surprising: Amazon Prime Day sales beat out 2016’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday numbers combined! It was the company’s biggest day ever—and that’s saying a lot. They also earned these sales in mid-July—a notoriously slow retail month. Needless to say, Amazon Prime Day is a brilliant promotional success. Some say they got lucky. We say they got savvy.

Hidden Objective, Clear Results

Major brands like Amazon routinely take advantage of promotional strategies to achieve their own desired objectives. This is in addition to any ongoing advertising initiatives.

Amazon Prime Day is just one of those promotions. This theoretical holiday allows Prime members to enjoy exclusive deals on a wide range of merchandise. Amazon’s goal is to increase Prime memberships. The added sales are a mere bonus.

Why is Prime subscription the goal? Because prime members are more likely to buy from Amazon all year long with the promise of free, two-day shipping. So a specific consumer goal yielded a bunch more loyal Prime customers plus a jaw-dropping increase in sales. And that’s the key to a successful promotion: driving a clear, measurable action.

The Difference between Advertising and Promoting

If you go looking through a thesaurus ($11.95 on Amazon.com) “Promoting” and “Advertising” come up as synonyms. To most people, they mean the same thing: hawking your wares and/or services to consumers. However, to a keen marketing maven, promoting and advertising are more like fraternal twins. Sure they come from the same place, but they can look (and be) vastly different.

By nature, advertising is an ongoing, brand-building effort. It’s a marathon without a finish line designed to keep your company top of mind, recognizable and ahead of the competition. In contrast, promoting is a sprint. It’s an intense effort with a specific goal in mind. When executed properly, the two can work together in beautiful harmony!

Promo Strategy 101

To make the most out of your promotions toolbox, you first want to hone in on the goal you want to achieve. Is the objective to introduce a new product to the market? Boost subscriptions to your service?

As mentioned earlier, promos work best when you have a specific action you want consumers to take. Once you know your desired outcome, you can then use your advertising campaign metrics to decide the best way to achieve that goal. What kind of advertising do your consumers tend to respond to best? Use your long-term advertising findings to dictate your promotional strategy. Your promotion will be more successful if you fish where the fish are.

Brainstorm

Promos are catchy, memorable, and encourage prompt action. Ideally, you want your promo to spread wide and fast among your targeted audience. So set your creative team to work dreaming up various promos to achieve the goal you set. Then choose the most strategically sound one. Heck, even make up your own holiday. It worked out pretty well for Amazon!

Plan and Launch with Purpose

The timing of your promo is critical. For example, launching a gift-wrapping service the day after Christmas might lead to an epic promo fail. Now this is an exaggerated scenario, but you get the picture. Consider both consumer behavior and seasonal influencers to determine the right time to launch, and then launch your promotion with everything you’ve got.

Spread the word on social media. Create digital campaigns. Buy some billboards and ads. In general, push your promotion through whatever medium will best reach your target audience. Again, fish where the fish are.

Why this Matters

You would be hard pressed to think of a company that needs to offer a special promotion less than Amazon. Their advertising is everywhere (including people’s doorsteps). They follow customers around the internet with highly-targeted remarketing campaigns until a purchase is complete. Financial experts say Amazon is the only company that could ever feasibly buy Google someday. Their stock market position is consistently healthy and nearly all of their sub-products (streaming, hosting, music, fresh delivery, home services, etc.) make a huge impact to the bottom line. The question is WHY? Why would a global giant with more revenue than they know what to do with host a one-day promotional sale? The answer is simple: because it works.

The lesson here is that promotions should be an integral component of all your marketing efforts. A good one can have lasting effects on your bottom line. So get brainstorming. Your customers will love you for it, and you’ll surely love them back!

Redesign with Purpose

November 7, 2017

Since our experience at An Event Apart (AEA) in Washington DC this past July, we’ve been inspired to write about Image Optimization, Website Accessibility, and much more. This final installment of our AEA blog series focuses on takeaways from Jeffrey Zeldman’s “From Research to Redesign” presentation.

Let’s set the stage for those of you who couldn’t be there in person… Beautiful ballroom packed with hundreds of like-minded geeks—MacBooks EVERYWHERE. Jeffrey Zeldman takes the stage as opening speaker. The excitement was palpable. Jeff is well-known and highly respected among this crowd as founder of A List Apart Magazine and the man behind the magic at AEA. With a three-day schedule of various experts speaking on a wide array of topics, it was only fitting that his presentation be relevant and applicable to all digital professionals. In essence, his message was clear… Do your homework.

Whether we’re creating a brilliant new website or designing holiday postcards for a client, research is the key to success. Learning, planning and preparation determine the foundational trajectory of any project or campaign. For businesses, it’s about understanding your market—more so than your competitors. They say the best ideas solve a problem. Find your industry’s pain points and create a plan for becoming the solution! These steps are simple, and they provide a proven blueprint for website redesign success.

Know Your People

Interview, focus group and survey relevant stakeholders to build consensus. Utilize applications such as Hotjar and Google Analytics to see beyond assumptions and get REAL, priceless user data.

Listen and Ask Questions

The challenge at hand is abandoning any personal notions to make room for valuable insights from both stakeholders and customers. As Zeldman says, “You don’t have to be an expert to have a conversation.”

Define Goals

What’s really the desired result here? This is an opportunity to get granular (and realistic) about your expectations for this project. Equally as important as the objectives themselves, you must determine exactly how you intend to measure their success.

Clear Direction

You’ve collected the data, and now you need to tell your story in a strong, efficient way. We know what we need to do, but exactly HOW do we do it?

Measurement

You’re not entirely off the hook after launch. Consider each campaign or project a living, breathing entity. With your clearly defined metrics of measurement, the ongoing mission will be to react and adapt over time.

How do these fundamentals apply to website design, for instance? Layout, language, and user interface are all crucial elements that can be fine-tuned to better serve visitors and thus, grow your business. With such a highly subjective landscape, one must rely on facts and research to make informed design decisions. Redesigning with purpose encompasses the work you put in before a single pixel is drawn or line of code is written. The more effort up front, the more effective the end result.

We would like to thank Jeffrey Zeldman (@zeldman)—not only for the enlightening presentation, but his passion and vision for An Event Apart. This three-day conference features 18 brilliant speakers and travels to several major cities throughout the country each year. If you’ve enjoyed our perspectives from the event in July, imagine what you’d gain from being there yourself! Thanks for reading.