Marketing & Design Blog

At age seven, second grade introduced me to writing. The teacher called the writing assignments “compositions” and they were the assignments I savored the most.

Coming up with a story, something clever and creative… more importantly, something I enjoyed, made school a better experience and it sparked my desire to be a writer. A story teller.

Sure, I’ve submitted my work to publishers, agents, literary competitions, etc. over the years, and although many have come close to being accepted it can be a daunting thing to perpetually never be chosen.

Finally, after all these years of wanting to do something with my desire to write I’m able to have an outlet via online self publishing. You can read some of my short fiction work on Feedbooks.com and Smashwords.com (under the pen name H.D. Timmons).

I hope you enjoy reading my work and please leave comments on either Feedbooks or Smashwords.

Feedbooks Link

Smashwords Link

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I made an interesting discovery a few weeks ago. While rummaging through a box of old artwork in my closet I found several sheets of unused scratch board. I thought this was an incredible coincidence because only days before I had spotted a photo of actor/singer Will Smith that I thought would look good in scratch board. I saved the image, as I had done with others over the years, presuming that “someday” I’d get around to illustrating again.

I’ve done several scratch board illustrations, but the last one I’d done was nearly 20 years ago, and finding the Will Smith image and then the blank, pristine sheets of scratch board was like the universe was challenging me to try my hand at it once more.

Scratch board, if you are unfamiliar with it, is basically a piece of poster board with solid black ink on one side, so dramatically lit images lend themselves better to becoming scratch board art. It really capitalizes on the medium and creates a much richer final image.

There are many tools you can use to scratch your image into it, but I had always just used an X-Acto knife.

Setting about the business of illustrating, I felt a little trepidation for having not done it for so long. Most of the past twenty years I have spent doing computer graphic illustrations and design. But I felt compelled and if there is anything I have learned from being somewhat creative is that you have to strike while the iron is hot.

The truly unique thing about scratch board art is that it is the opposite of a pencil drawing. With pencil you are concentrating on shading and darkening areas, but with scratch board you are actually scratching out the highlights and actually drawing the flesh on a face.

I put the general outline of the Will Smith image, and key shadow and light areas, onto tracing paper. Then, rubbed the back of the tracing with chalk so I could do a tranfer tracing onto the scratch board. You can’t erase on scratch board, so with the chalk transfer I can make sure my proportions are correct right off the bat.

The next step was to get a sharp X-Acto blade and begin. I generally start with areas with the brightest highlights. In those places I can get the feel and rythm without risking too many mistakes. The trick here is to not over work these areas. I soon skipped around to some darker areas to make sure my contrast balance was working. Later I could go back and add to some highlights if they needed it to make the image pop. Every now and then I turn the image upside down to work on it. This way I can really get an objective view of the light and dark areas. It really works!

About thirty minutes or an hour into the piece I always feel as if it’s not going to turn out good at all, but I keep plugging at it until eventually it starts to look right. All totalled, in the course of an entire weekend it took about 8 hours.

In the end, I was very happy with the piece. So, happy in fact, that I dug out one of my old scratch board references and did a portrait of B.B. King the following weekend. Not bad for a 20 year hiatis.

Will Smith on scratch board (1/24/2010)

 

B.B. King on scratch board (1/31/2010)

 

Posted in Creative Design | 2 Comments »

Originally posted: Nov 24th, 2009 – www.articlebase.com - Anthony Mora

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Prepare now for success in the new year.  Shift your focus from tactical marketing to transformational marketing.  Inject that new attitude into your PR campaign, your internet marketing, and into all of your promotional efforts. 

2009 was not an easy year for most businesses.  We hit the worst recession since the Great Depression (is “great” really the appropriate adjective); we saw unprecedented unemployment rates.  It was a year of sustained constriction, but as with all of nature we’re in a cycle.  Fall leads to spring and times of constriction lead to those of expansion. The problem is that when tough times come, most businesses focus on the negative, actually adding to it.  They cut back on, or severely limit their marketing, which in turn restricts their growth.  So, make a decision NOW to reverse this trend in the new year.

Be practical, but be savvy.  Take a look at your business plan and make the appropriate adjustments.  Focus on your values and your core strengths, then market to those.  Get excited about where your business can go, how it can grow, the new changes you can make, the new markets you can target.  Use this time to transform yourself and your business.  By that I don’t necessarily mean make major changes to your business.  But change how you approach it.  Shift your attitude towards yourself, your business, your associates, your employees and your customers or clients.  Bring some magic to the table.  Get exited about what the new year can bring.

Now take that change in attitude, that excitement, and reflect that in your marketing.  Shift your focus from tactical marketing to transformational marketing.  Inject that new attitude into your PR campaign, your internet marketing, and into all of your promotional efforts.  Having run a public relations firm for nearly two decades, I’ve seen how the excitement that entrepreneurs or business owners bring with them carries into their marketing and ultimately into their overall success.  Make the leap towards sustained, transformational marketing your goal for the new year.  Make it your year for growth and expansion.  Make it your year for success.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2009

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One of the constants of marketing is to never stop marketing. Even when faced with harsh economic times marketing your services and products should continue. How else will customers know you still exist?

Certainly, you can scale back budgets, but it is still essential to stay top of mind with your customers not only with a carefully tailored message, but with a memorable identity.

Often times it seems that tough times bring complacency to the marketplace. Consumers sometimes feel as if there is nothing new and everything is just the same old thing.

Well, that’s where a revitalized logo can be an advantage, especially if your image has been suffering, or has gotten a little stale. There’s no better time to look fresh.

Continuing to market yourself with a revitalized logo can improve your image and help you stand out from the same old, same old – and announcing that there’s something new about you business and you are ready for the future.

So, if your image is in need of a fresh look, making a change now may be right for you.

Tags: advertising, creative, Freelance, graphic design, Marketing
Posted in Creative Design, Ideas, Marketing | No Comments »

by Tricia Robinson, Premiere Global Services  |  originally posted on www.dmnews.com

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E-mail has moved beyond its infancy and has proven to be a high-yield marketing channel, so much so that everyone is jumping on board. Separate your messages from the clutter by implementing these dos and avoiding these don’ts. David Letterman has his top 10s, now here are mine:

Do include a call to action. In fact, include it several times throughout the e-mail. Be specific and create a sense of urgency by including an expiration date. Include the first one in the subject line. Put the second at the top to display in the preview pane. Even if your recipients never scroll, they now have two opportunities to take action. Finally, always include a call to action at the end. If your recipients were interested enough to read the entire message, don’t make them scroll up.

Do make the e-mail unique to your company. Have a style unique to your brand or company and intertwine some flavor so it never gets old. Include an accurate logo that is clearly visible and clickable. If the link is to your Web site, ensure it functions properly. Train your recipients to recognize your brand and leave with a positive impression.

Do include an unsubscribe option. Always include the unsubscribe option. It’s not just a courtesy, it’s the law. CAN-SPAM dictates that every e-mail marketing message include the functional opt out and gives the marketer 10 days to suppress the opt out.

Do include white-listing instructions. Once readers become interested in your e-mails, they won’t want to miss any of them. Show them how to add you to their white list. This decreases your company’s chances of being marked as spam in future mailings. Also, recipients will connect and become familiar with your brand. Think of it as being on their VIP list.

Do consider using an e-mail service provider to send your campaigns. With ever-changing best practices, this is the most reliable, efficient way to manage your e-mail campaigns. It lets you track e-mails, measure campaign results and improve and modify your e-mail strategy while your ESP focuses on message hosting, best-practices consulting and delivery.

Don’t overwhelm the recipient’s inbox. Sending daily marketing e-mails can cause more harm than good to your campaign. It also damages your brand’s reputation. If messages are flooding inboxes, recipients are more likely to unsubscribe or mark your messages as junk.

Don’t get too wordy. Starting with the subject line, keep everything short and to the point. Paragraphs should be short but catchy enough to grab people’s attention. Use simple words and short phrases. Arrange the text so a quick scan can easily reveal the main message. Use bullet points wherever possible.

Don’t misspell words or use poor grammar. This is obvious, but nothing will turn people away faster than an e-mail filled with mistakes. It not only shows incompetence on your part, but it also reflects poorly on the quality and reputation of your brand. Take time to double and triple check your text, scrutinize the copy until you find nothing wrong with it, then have someone else check it again.

Don’t keep sending messages when there is no interest. If your open and click-through rates are plummeting, change your approach or stop sending to the recipient. Try sending a reminder e-mail — they may have opted in but forgotten why. If there is still no action by the recipient, clean your distribution list.

Don’t send e-mails without a clear purpose. Every e-mail should have a purpose, and it should be obvious. Have a specific goal you want to accomplish with each e-mail. Recipients should not be wondering why a certain message was delivered to their inbox. Instead, they will understand and appreciate it when your message caters to their interests. Know yourself and know your audience, too.

As the old saying goes, you have to learn to crawl before you can walk. Keep my top 10 dos and don’ts in mind for your next campaign, and you’ll be on your feet and running in no time.

Tags: advertising, direct mail, graphic design, Marketing
Posted in Ideas, Marketing | 1 Comment »