The Sound of Music ... and Advertising.

Whether you're Mozart, B.B. King, John Lennon, Hank Williams or Ne-Yo, sitting down to a blank page of music opens up a limitless world of possibilities. Boundless, untapped creativity. The dots you splash on those lines can be the next great ballad or the next great ballet. They can make people laugh, cry, love and dance ... it's totally up to the musician.

That's what I love about what we do. To me, creative is like music.  Eddie Wilson in the movie Eddie and the Cruisers said, "words and music, man - they need each other." I couldn't agree more. But so do words and images.

I share this rant because I just heard about an interesting client conversation. They didn't want to provide too much creative input because they didn't want to stifle the creative process. In essence, they were providing blank sheet music and asking us to write the next great song.

Which is GREAT!!! No creative wants everything dictated to them. BUT...we didn't know if we are writing a love song, pop song, western or jazz.

For advertising, the strategy is like providing the stye to a musician. It provides the ground rules that allow creative to flourish. Yes...creative DOES need rules. Are we writing an eight-bar blues riff? A concerto? Will it be acapella? We at least need to know what instruments to include.

And within each musical style, the creativity is varied by tone. How do we want people to feel. Is it reminiscent? Inspirational? Foreboding? Your advertising creative needs a defined tone too.

You can give 100 musicians the same 8 notes and you'll hear 100 totally different tunes. They just need to select a style and define a tone.

Give 100 writers and designers the exact same well-defined strategy, and you'll get 100 different well-positioned ads. If you truly want to set your creatives free to keep their feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars, give them the freedom of a tight strategy.

For the cheat sheet to a tight strategy, click here: 

A Cheat Sheet to Perfect Creative

We bring these marketing philosophies to credit unions and community banks nationwide, and would love to bring them to your institution too. Contact us to see how.

With more than 272,000 visits worldwide, we hope that you enjoy this blog.  If you find it helpful, please share it with your colleagues. Also, check out our YouTube Channel for short video blogs about financial marketing.  

MarketMatch is also a nationally and internationally requested speaker. Contact us to bring our marketing ideas to your next conference.

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Featured App: What the Font

It’s time for another fun “featured app” review.  I kicked the series off with a review of Diptic (herein case you missed it).  Today’s app has a clever name that is easy to remember: “What the Font”.  A little sassy, sure. 

Name of app:

What the Font

How I heard about it:

Mandi and Sarah Katherine of the Columbia CVB – some of the nicest and most knowledgeable gals you’ll ever meet.

About the app:

What the Font helps you identify the fonts used on just about anything.  All you have to do is snap a picture of the unknown font and upload it via your iPhone.  The app then searches its database (powered by myfonts.com) and returns a variety of matches. 

What I love most:

All the time I’m saving! And being able to snap photos of “old” printed pieces (even records) with a good chance their handy system will find a close match!

Cost of app:

Free (at the time of this post).  Look for it in the App store. 

Not an iPhone user?

Not to worry.  You can also upload your photo to their website and get a free analysis here.  

Tweet them:
Tell them how much you love it by tweeting @myfonts. While you’re there, be sure to follow me, @lauracatherineo.

Got a font you love? Comment below, tweet me, Facebook me.  I would love to give it a spin and review it here.

Laura is a marketing professional and blogger who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

6 Examples to Get You Noticed

The goal of any creative initiative is to get noticed.  Of course, you also want a clean message with an easy to understand call to action … But unless you differentiate and stand out, your message will never be heard.

A catchy headline, crisp copy and bold design are a good start …  but think beyond that.

Here are some examples that may fire up your creative neurons.

Why Use Normal Paper?

We had 2 different jobs that pushed us creatively to think outside of traditional paper.

In the first example, our client offers the first personalized debit card in the market, where the member can put their own photo image on their card.  So, we “demonstrated” what the card “could” look like by turning part of the postcard into an actual mirror.

Another client was targeting physicians for a Commercial opportunity.  So we delivered the message to them in an x-ray envelope and printed the “message” on actual x-ray paper.  The best part?  We include an "appointment card" like you would receive from your family doctor or dentist.  The card lists the date and time that our team will follow-up.  

Again, the goal is to get your message noticed, so you can have your message understood.  In both of these cases, a world-class printer can make you look like a rock star!

Get Them Involved.

You don’t need to have a lottery to use scratch-offs.  Here are 2 examples of mailers that use scratch-offs to get the reader engaged with the piece.

We have a client who positions themselves as the mortgage authority and expert in “specialty” mortgages … RD, VA, etc.  This card asks the questions that the target is likely to be thinking with the answers under the scratch-off keys. 

In another example, we used a scratch-off to reveal what customers can do when they “Need extra cash,” with the answer, “Use the equity in your home!”

Much like the stickers in a Publisher’s Clearing House promotion, we simply use a tool where the reader expects to “win” something and get them more engaged with the mailer.

Why Use an Envelope?

The “Shoe Mailer” may be one that we are most commonly known for.  We ask Commercial prospects to “Take the next step with us,” and mail the message in an actual shoe.  The postage and address are applied to the sole of the shoe and it ALWAYS gets noticed.  During follow-up calls, it’s common to be recognized as, “the shoe people.”

Our local post office loves us!  The vessel that you mail in may be more important than the actual message.  Think creatively through the entire project.

Show NOTHING on TV.

Creating a television message, on a local production budget, that gets noticed isn’t easy.  It’s a common rule in presenting that if you want the room's attention, say nothing until people look up.  We used a similar strategy in this 30-second ad – where the first 5 seconds are black.

If you read this blog regularly, you know we believe that great creative starts with a sound strategy and focused segmentation and is supported by detailed front-line processes and success measurement.  But, there comes a time when you simply have to don the Hawaiian shirt and flip-flops and get your creative groove on.  When that time comes – I hope these ideas help take you further.

Want more creative ideas?  Click here for a sample of our creative library.

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MarketMatch is a full-service marketing firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community.  We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the efforts that will generate the greatest  MOMENTUM for your organization and demonstrate RESULTS with our written ROI Guarantee.

Learn more here. (click here)

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How to Create A WordPress.com Blog or Website in 12 Easy Steps

I built a website/blog using WordPress.com recently. In this post, I will talk about the reasons I chose to use WordPress.com, as well as the process you can follow to create and customize your own WordPress.com blog.

The WordPress.com
Website/Blog I Created

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know I try to build & maintain a working knowledge of the most popular/widely used online website building/blogging services available online…some are free, others are paid.   Although my longtime comfort zone/preference has been to build websites using Adobe products (Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Flash, etc.), I have found that more and more clients are looking for the freedom/ability to easily manage their own content.  This is a fair request and has lead me to exploring just how much I can customize/tweak a website or blog on SquareSpace, Blogger, and now WordPress.com (hooray!) to give the website a professional  “look” while still offering the client the benefits of content management.  In summary, I’m mastering the art of customizing/designing around/tweaking a template so it doesn’t look like a template anymore…

Why Wordpress.com?

1. Search Engine Optimization…My friends Brian & Trevor (SEO experts at Synactable), told me that WordPress sites in general are much easier to optimize for search engines, and are intrinsically built (coded) cleaner overall when compared to Blogger.com, making WordPress.com websites/blogs more favorable for SEO. 
2. Content Management with Ease – the “dashboard” is your one-stop source for editing just about everything on your blog/website…everything from blog posts to pages to side navigation and widgets.
3. Pages.  WordPress.com comes with the ability to create a multiple pages on your blog/website without having to know html.
4. Cost.  WordPress.com is free (or inexpensive if you choose to upgrade for even more features).  I do recommend spending the $12/year to hide the “.wordpress.com” portion of your URL, so your web address (URL) is simplified. 

Before I share my experience, you may want to quickly read over the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org.  There are real differences, and I am writing about my experience with WordPress.com for now.  The next step will be for me to dive into WordPress.org…can’t wait!

How to Create Your WordPress.com Blog/Website in 12 Easy Steps

1. Account creation…couldn’t be easier! Visit https://en.wordpress.com/signup/ and fill in the 4 required fields and voila! 
2. On the next screen you’ll name your blog domain, title your blog, choose your language, and choose to make your blog public or private
   
   
3. Now it’s time to create your profile.  Enter your profile info (first name, last name, about)
   
   
4. Check your email to confirm your registration
5. When you confirm your registration, you’re taken to the WordPress.com website.  Login and select “dashboard” from the “my blog” button
   
   
6. Let’s start customizing your blog by clicking on “appearance” (on left-nav while in your dashboard)
   
   
7. Browse the themes to choose one that has the features/layout you like.  Be sure that the template you choose offers the features you require, such as “pages” before you make your decision.  Select your template and click “activate”. I chose the “Ocean Mist” look for The Charleston Real Estate Connection blog.
8. Design and import a customized header to be placed at the top of each page of your WordPress site (if you so choose).  If you choose the Ocean Mist theme, your header will need to measure 736 X 229.  Regardless, once you click on “header”, WordPress will give you the dimensions for your header.  To upload your header, click on “choose file”, “upload”, and “save changes”.
   
   
9. At this time, you may wish to remove the “just another wordpress blog” from below your blog title.  Do do this, click on “settings” from your dashboard and then “General” to pull up your General Settings screen.
   
   
   
10. Create pages (if the template you choose offers pages).  To do this, click on “pages” from your dashboard.  You may notice that a default “about” page has already been created for you.  This is usually a good place to start.  You can add, rename, edit, or remove pages as you wish.  Simply click on “add new” button to create a new page, or hover over existing pages to view your editing options.  After naming your page and entering your content, be sure to click “publish”
    
    
11. Customize your sidebar by clicking on “appearance”, then “widgets”.  Drag the available widgets of your choice over into your sidebar by clicking and dragging them one at a time.  You can re-arrange their order as you go.  Now is a good time to evaluate your blog-building progress by clicking on “My Blog” from the top of your dashboard.  Are you happy with the appearance thus far?  Ready to add more pages or widgets in your sidebar?
    
    
    
12. Create and publish your first blog post. Click on “posts” and edit the default “hello world” post.
    
    WordPress.com took a little getting used to for me, but I am so happy I took the time to learn my way around it's dashboard/features/benefits.  I hope you feel the same way! Look for more WordPress.com posts to come on this blog.
    
    

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Laura Catherine is a marketing professional in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or RSS below. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO) and LinkedIn. 

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New Twitter Background Design Specs (#NewTwitter Background Size)

Updated with a pixel-by-pixel breakdown for the #NewTwitter (scroll down for image) and special video with an even more detailed breakdown of this space!



If your Twitter profile background was designed to fit Twitter before the #NewTwitter format was introduced, you may need to make some changes to your design.  Your background graphics/photo(s) may look "cut off" in the #NewTwitter.  Why? The #NewTwitter 2-column format takes up more room, leaving less space for your background design. Don't have the time or software to design your own? Not to worry, just stop on over to Themeleon and build your own background.

The "New Twitter" Background Specs:

At 1280 X 1024 screen size (a recommended standard size), here is the breakdown of space:

Your new background (overall) should be set up as:
1260 pixels wide X 895 pixels tall


Let's break this new background down so you'll know how much room you have in each area:
Left-hand side of #NewTwitter background: 110 pixels wide X 895 pixels tall
Top of screen (all the way across the top): 1260 pixels wide X 15 pixels tall (this leaves room for scroll bar)
Right-hand side of screen: 110 pixels wide X 895 pixels tall
Middle of screen: (hidden by 2 columns in Internet explorer, the right-column is semi-transparent in Chrome and a few other browsers): 1,040 pixels wide by 880 pixels tall

Visit my Twitter profile to see how I've made use of the space. It may look like there is extra space over on the left if you are not using the #NewTwitter yet.  I also have an example of a #newtwitter background below.  You will see it as it appears as a file and then what it looks like when it's been loaded onto Twitter.

click to enlarge (to full size) this Twitter background I designed for Charleston Wedding Studio

Sneak peek of the new Charleston Wedding Studio Twitter background before it goes LIVE

With the new layout, twitter users can read your "bio" without having to click away from their current screen to visit your profile, so there isn't a need to reiterate it over on your background unless you so desire (or wish to add in other social info a la Facebook, etc.)

Have a great week!

Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston and Columbia, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

Favorite New Font this Week: Sketch Block Font

Typography has always fascinated me. I admire those designers who are rather brilliant with their use of fonts/colors/etc. to achieve a flawless look. Working on my use of typography has been a goal of mine this year...practice makes perfect (as an aside, I can't wait to unveil an official logo for this blog...long overdue).

My favorite font this week is called "Sketch Block", and it's free for your download (as long as it's for personal use). I created the header using this font over on my "Favorite Things This Week" blog, a place where I share things that are inspiring me (hence, "favorite things") at the moment.

I am really enjoying the way the Sketch Block font commands your attention but isn't too uptight or boring. It's a font that isn't afraid to get its hands dirty!

Here's the look I was able to achieve in my header (thanks to the new font)

Hope you enjoy it, too.

Laura

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