Ok so it's really called drip marketing, I also refer to it as "overtising." We've found that a lot of companies are actually overdoing eMarketing efforts to the point where it becomes annoying to the end user.

Personally, we believe once a week to your customer base is excessive (Godiva are you listening?), every two weeks is doible.

We like to send our eMarketing out quarterly or occasionally if we just want to put out an additional touch out to them we'll create a unique piece certain times throughout the year ... Continue Reading

So you did it, you thought by not marketing your company on the web or with traditional marketing collateral that you'd save huge bucks. You probably did. How much did you lose though because your name wasn't out there or you didn't polish your current marketing pieces up taking advantage of the economic situation? In most cases you'll have to work harder to get that same sale that was approved last year in a third of the time, fine.

Hitting the pavement to drum up business requires more than a ... Continue Reading

The short answer is no. No they can't. If they want something of yours they can get it or know someone that can.

This comes up quite often actually with our clients and we tell them the same thing. Sure there are deterrents which I'll describe below however that's all they are.

Here's a great story for you:

After a year or so telling our client that you can't lock down your photos so no one steals them, they came to me one day and said: "Rob, I know you said ... Continue Reading

Though more and more businesses realize they need a website in today’s at your finger tips online information age, there is still a lot of misconception that surrounds having one. A major misconception is that “once I have a website, the money’s just going to start rolling in.” That’s just not the case in most instances. If you do nothing to promote the website, it ends up being like home gym equipment: It’s there, but nobody’s using it. What we tell people is that you ... Continue Reading

If you knew me, you would know I’m a Food Network junkie. I also tend to collect cookbooks, which I often read like novels. My latest one is The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, one of Ina Garten’s from the late 1990’s. In it, she repeatedly advises to use the best ingredients you possibly can.

At Effusion we decided that the best way to provide the best services to our clients was to specialize in design (which is all done in-house) and partner with “specialists” in other areas on an as ... Continue Reading

In the design profession there are two distinctive types of clients. Clients that appreciate your work, customer service as well as take your pricing at face value AND there are others that take the dangling carrot approach to entice a better price.

Simmilar to spec work "carrot danglers" typically are new prospects that love your work, respect your process, and don't want to work with any other firm — but they are looking for a discount on your proposal as they are resistant to paying market value for your knowledge, ... Continue Reading

People typically come to Effusion because they’ve seen and loved our work or know people that have worked with us and want a similar experience. We sign-on new clients and referrals regularly throughout the year that trust our design expertise because of this.

Some clients are more hands on and that's fine, where others tend to micromanage the entire project which strikes us as odd since they hired us to make them look good in the first place.

Your Design Firm Are the Experts

While we can certainly appreciate our clients that have ... Continue Reading

A brand is not a logo, it's not your company's identity or even a product.

A brand is an emotional and visceral reaction or connection to a business or product. Whether the emotion is love or hate the ultimate goal is an illogical reaction. Branding attempts to manage the signals that help evoke that reaction. Branding occurs in the heart and not the head, the "I want" and "I need" connection is invaluable.

Take Coca Cola for instance. Without brand value, they estimate their worth at 50 Billion, WITH brand value they estimate ... Continue Reading

I sure didn’t come from money. Still, I wasn’t deprived either. If anything, I can thank my maternal Grandmother for showing me how being thrifty and creative can make the things that we surround ourselves with really gratifying. That and a general belief that she had:

“It’s better to have one nice thing than to have many cheap things.”

Grandma wasn’t talking about straight label shopping. Grandma was talking about plain old quality — though we know many brands (or labels) that are associated with quality. In fact, that’s what Effusion Creative Solutions ... Continue Reading

It's the fourth quarter, the last month before the New Year. If year-end marketing budgets haven't been spent yet or you're anxious about getting started early for next year, this is the month to get serious about gearing up for Q1 2009. By having business in the pipeline now you'll be ready to go to kick-off the month of January.

This year more than ever, your marketing strategies should be offensive — instead of defensive. With the right creative moves set in motion now, this will help keep your business ahead of ... Continue Reading