Have you ever seen an advertisement that has really caught your attention for a product, which may be completely insignificant to you?

Have you wondered what is it about this product or seen a product sitting on a shelf that just said to you, “Buy me?”

We live in a world of mass consumption and all of us as consumers have had this happen at one time or another.

The truth of the matter is that there is a science to advertising and understanding how the human brain interprets color and reacts to colors.

Advertisers use this information in planning advertising campaigns to maximize the response from consumers.

Red

In the RBG model, red has the longest wavelength, which makes it a very powerful color.

Red is an explosive color that really hits your eye and grabs your attention immediately.

In fact, the color red has been scientifically proven to stimulate a faster heartbeat and increasing respiration rate in humans.

When red is used as an accent color, it is meant to stimulate shoppers and drive them to make impulse buys.

“BUY NOW!” “SAVE!” “CLICK HERE!” “SAVINGS BONAZA!”

These are all headlines we have seen that are encouraging us to do something at that exact moment and most of them are in a giant, bold typeface that is bright red.

What do companies like Wawa, Giant, Costco, Wendy’s and Pizza Hut have in common?

Aside from their obvious connection to the food industry, they all use red in their logos. And this is not by chance.

Red has the psychological effect of making people feel hungry.

This is a reason food retailers of all sorts make sure to brand their product in red!

Next time you are browsing your local grocery store try to see how many products you find on the shelf with a bright red label or packaging.

All of these reasons make red a very powerful and reliable ally when trying to make your product stand out amongst the rest.

Green

The color green is a very non-threatening color, often associated with nature and prosperity.

Many products that are advertised as all natural, eco friendly or organic will use the color green in their logo or packaging.

Is it any coincidence that when buying vegetables you are always assured quality when buying from the Green Giant?

How about buying a household cleaning product with less harmful chemicals and more eco friendly ingredients that happens to be named Green Works?

Financial institutions use green as a primary color to give consumers a sense of confidence knowing they are investing in a company that is protecting their investments and offering them financial stability and growth.

Green can be used to represent safety and tell a consumer when it is safe to go.

When something receives a green check mark it is telling the consumer it is the right choice and that it is safe to use.

You probably would be less inclined to buy a product with a large, red X on the packaging.

Imagine seeing a cereal box with a large, red X in the Smart Choices Program logo.

Would you be more or less interested in the cereal?

Blue

Blue is a color used to denote elegance, intelligence, serenity and tranquility. Blue has been shown to slow metabolism and have a calming effect in humans, which is why it is generally avoided when promoting food.

People often associate blue with cleanliness and smoothness. This correlation is why you see goods such as cleaning products, refreshing drinks and toiletry items using the color blue in either their logo or packaging.

Blue is also associated with a connection with nature.

This is why airlines and travel agencies stick to using blue in their advertisements. A scenic picture of someone sitting on a beach in the Caribbean or a plane soaring throw the clouds to some exotic getaway engages the consumer and makes them yearn for such travel.

Yellow

Yellow is bright, vibrant color, which is used to produce a warming effect, arouse cheerfulness and stimulate mental activity.

This is why yellow is a favorite amongst beauty products. Skin creams, lotions and sunscreens incorporate yellow into their packaging.

Yellow also has a youthful, playfulness, which can be seen on products intended for a younger audience.

The brightness and eye-catching ability of yellow is the reason taxi services use them as their primary color.

Orange

Orange is a warm, energetic shade of red. Orange has been shown to increase oxygen supply to the brain and stimulate mental activity.

That being said, it is no surprise that Stream Companies’ color scheme and motto are “Viva La Orange.”

Black

Finally, looking at black. Black is a color, which can have many connotations.

From luxury, power, prestige to simplicity and sophistication, black is more used as a symbol of attitude.

You will need your finest suit and car if you are going to be in attendance of the black tie event.

This use of black is synonymous with luxury and power.

Most advertisers have a black label line of their product to differentiate itself from the ordinary.

Why drink Johnny Walker when you as a prestigious person can drink Johnny Walker Black. This is the more sophisticated Scotch Whiskey.

This is merely a glimpse into the science that is how color triggers a Pavlovian response for the consumer.

Product manufacturers have broken down marketing strategies into the science of stimulating your brain and getting a response simply by using color as their weapon. 

Try challenging yourself the next time you are out and try examining advertisements, products packaging or labels to see if the colors used do invoke a reaction and what reaction you get.

French Electronica Duo Daft Punk have returned in 2013 with a new album.

Their last release, 2005′s Human After All, was harshly critiqued by some fans.

Since that stumble, they’ve since headlined a successful tour in 2007 and created the acclaimed soundtrack to 2010′s TRON: Legacy.

Fast forward to 2013.

Every other week there is an artist putting out a remix of a record with electronic undertones, Auto-Tuners, and dub step glitchiness.

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Daft Punk stated “Electronic music right now is in its comfort zone and it’s not moving one inch.”

So with their new album, they explained that they “wanted to do what we used to do with machines and samplers, but with people.”

Not only have they taken this old meets new mentality with recording, but with marketing as well.

In recent years, most new product marketing in the music industry has been dedicated to the hard sell; musician interviews on late night TV, banner advertising scouring the internet, clips and audio bits interrupting your Spotify playlists.

For Daft Punk, they have used older PR tactics to play into our new social world.

In March, Daft Punk dropped a surprise 8-second clip of their new single during a Saturday Night Live commercial break. This was followed by an even longer clip of the same single weeks later.

Simultaneously, they bought billboard placement (yes billboard, not banner) on I-10, a major roadway on route to Coachella, where they also debuted the short clip featuring the duo, Pharrell Williams, and Nile Rodgers.

Unbeknownst to the audience, Daft Punk was watching in anticipation from the VIP section, waiting for social media to blow up with audience video posts of the teaser (and they did, in droves).

This was followed by a radio edit of the new single, released on April 19th (which at the time of writing this article has nearly 4 million views on YouTube).

Their formula for marketing is indeed old school, yet successful.

Create an intriguing product, slowly release small teases, let word of mouth create buzz between each release, then launch with a solid offering (their new single, “Get Lucky,” is undeniably catchy).

They didn’t produce any internet advertising, minus a few collaborator series videos on Facebook. Yet, social media can’t stop talking about these guys.

Correct placement + right audience + tantalizing promotions = marketing buzz.

All the best,

Brock Clauser

Brock Clauser is the Director Of Paid Search For Stream Companies, a full service advertising agency in Philadelphia.

Montgomeryville Nissan’s Responsive Website Designed by Stream Companies

According to eMarketer, there are approximately 115.8 million smartphone users. By 2016, there will be 192 million users! Without a doubt, a smartphone is no longer the stuff of science fiction movies and books; these are everyday devices that most of us use on a daily basis.

One pet peeve of this highly advanced device is the fact the mobile versions of websites are considerably less advanced, and frankly, difficult to browse at all. Whether the mobile site is so simplified that it barely offers any information or it requires you to keep zooming in, it’s safe to say that it’s a pain.

The solution to this problem: responsive websites. Responsive web design ensures a single site is optimized for all devices, from desktop to tablet to mobile. Designers use CSS3 media queries to style and present the content in the best way for the particular device you are viewing the site on. The website then fluidly responds to the screen width of the device to give you the best presentation and layout of content.

How does it do it? Universal styles for the site come first in the stylesheet and then as the stylesheet progresses down, specific styles for each view are bucketed within media queries. The queries typically comprise a min and max screen width to tell the browser how to render the site for that particular range.

Advantages:

One site!

No more updating the desktop site and the mobile site when there are content or style changes

Google recommends this as a best practice.

• Serves all devices the same set of URLS – easier for users to share and link to regardless of what device they are on
• Google can crawl and index the site better
• Better on SEO

No more pinch and zoom

• All content on the site is optimized for the device you are on – meaning that you will be able to read the text that is on the site
• Content fits nicely within the screen of your phone or tablet since the CSS media queries present it that way

Same user experience, regardless of what device you’re using

In the world of segregation (desktop site and mobile site), there was usually a good amount of content that was left out from the mobile site since it was believed that users only wanted the bare bones information.

• You needed to go to “View Full Site” button to see everything, and you had to pinch and zoom your way around the site – not quite the easiest way of doing things.
• With responsive, you are viewing the full site, it has just been styled in a better way to make easier to see everything.

No more sniffers!!

• Don’t need to rely on scripts to “sniff” out what device the user is on to serve up the correct site (desktop or mobile)
• With new devices being added constantly, the script might be older and not include that device, so the correct site wouldn’t be served up
• New devices for responsive means that whatever that device’s screen width is, they will see a site optimized for them!

Disadvantages:

Your site will look AWFUL in Internet Explorer

• Internet Explorer 8 and below don’t understand CSS3 media queries, so if you don’t have your base universal styles outside of media queries, your site won’t look too pretty.
• Fortunately, there are scripts like Modernizr that provide patches for IE to better render and understand media queries.

More thought and planning needs to go into building a responsive site

• Need to plan and account for your different breakpoints: desktop, tablet, mobile, and design the best view for each for the site
• Need to rely heavily on CSS3 rather than images (for gradients, rounded edges, shadows, etc) – again IE doesn’t play nice with these so unless you use patch scripts, IE won’t render these design aspects
• Need to consider the order you lay out each aspect of content. Even though the site may look different depending on the device you use (example, maybe three content blocks are side by side for desktop, but then are stacked one under each other on mobile) there is still an order to the presentation. If those blocks are 1, 2, and 3, you wouldn’t be able to change their order to 2, 1, 3 on mobile

No View Full Site link

• This isn’t necessarily a huge disadvantage, but some users are used to that option.

Load time

• Mobile users will be downloading unnecessary HTML/CSS code (not a huge deal) and most of the time, images are simply scaled down, NOT resized — which could increase load time.

Like most things, the good comes with the bad. However, with responsive websites, the good definitely outweighs the bad. As long as you’re willing to put the time into your website, your site looks great on any device, and without question, a responsive site is much more user friendly.

PPC could be the missing piece in your advertising strategy.

Your AdWords ad will either draw that customer in to make that initial click, or have them pass on by without another thought of what your business can offer them.

Even if your company will provide the searcher with the best prices and service, they may never know it unless you lead them in with that initial click on your pay per click ad.

There are many ways to tell your story in only 95 characters, but the only way to do it well is to be creative, original, and think outside the box.

Include Promotions or Deals in Your Ads:  Draw that customer in with SAVINGS.  This is one of the best ways to bring in a potential customer.  People use the internet to shop for two main reasons: savings and convenience.  Keep those two qualities in mind when you are writing your ad copy. What is going to make your business stand out amongst your competitors?  However, remember to be creditable when you are running promotions.  If the offer expires, pause the ad, don’t lead the customer on.

Be Specific to What the Searcher is Looking For:  This goes back to account structure, you want to make sure your account is set up so you can write as specific and relevant ad copy as possible.  You want customers to find what they are searching for quickly and easily.  So write ad copy that includes the product name they are searching for and send them to the best possible landing page so they can make the purchase effortlessly.

Use A/B Ad Copy Testing: No one knows exactly what ad is going to work the best.  Sometimes ads surprise you and perform better or worse than you expected.  So the moral of the story is always test out more than one ad, and continue this process as you maintain your AdWords account.  In PPC, we are always testing new keywords and ad copy to find the combination that will have the best return on investment.

Make Use of All Ad Extensions:  With the beginning of enhanced campaigns it is important that all marketers are up to date on the changes that are coming along with ad extensions.  Ad extensions are not just sitelinks, although those are great additions to include in your ads.  There are also social, location, product, call, and offer extensions that you can test to make your ads as relevant and powerful as possible.

Use Colorful and Incentive Based Language:  If you want someone to notice your ad than grab their attention with creative ad copy.  Use punctuation (!, ?,  -), ask the searcher a question, and use language in a thoughtful and decisive manner.

Remember the most successful ads will have higher click through rates.

These higher CTRs will in turn give your overall account a better quality score and over time, naturally reduce your cost per click while improving your ad position.

All the best,

Megan Thorne,
Sr. PPC Specialist
Stream Companies

25% of people who get information on local businesses, get it from local sources.

You may know them as locals. Whatever you call them, the people who spend the most time in your town are a valuable resource.

They not only know the best restaurants, car dealerships and clothing stores in town, they know the best way to get there, where to park and the owner’s first name.

These hyper-users are so valuable, they are changing the way businesses reach their customers online.

A recent survey from the Pew Research Center shows that 25% of people who get news and information on local businesses get it from locals.

38% rely on search engines. By targeting these two sources, businesses are increasing visibility and making information more accessible.

These early adopters of what experts call “local SEO” have digitized the bus stop, your neighbor’s fence or the local coffee shop, allowing neighbors to exchange advice and businesses to showcase positive reviews.

So how can you get in on the action? In today’s post, we will examine a few Local SEO strategies and tell you if they will work for your business.

Show Google Some Love

Like it or not, Google controls most of the market share in the world of search engines.

It is the go-to platform to find pretty much anything. That is especially true for local businesses. According to the Pew study, 60% of adults turn to the internet to find local businesses.

With over 70% of the market share for internet searches, Google is top dog. But you only get out of Google what you put in, so making sure your information is claimed, sorted and up-to-date is critical.

The most important tool Google offers is Google Places (what they are now calling Google + Local). These listings ensure that your business is included when Google returns local results with an accompanying map or users search using a smart phone in your local area.

This week, after months of complaints from marketers and business owners, Google introduced a new Google Places dashboard.

This allows business owners to take a step-by-step approach to listing their business and getting it verified. Make sure this information is complete and comprehensive, including images, videos, hours of operation and detailed descriptions.

The Power of Local Backlinks

Anyone who grew up in a small town knows that the closest option is not always the best.

How many times have you driven to a grocery store or a bar a little further away because it offers better service to more of your friends? Google tries to replicate this experience by presenting local results that are not only close to your location but that are liked by more local residents.

One way Google recognizes your business as a local darling is through local backlinks.

Local backlinks are links to your site hosted on the websites of other local businesses.

Think of all the local events and community partnerships that tie your business to the community. How many of those local partners are telling the world about you on their websites?

You may be asking “why would a local business post a link to my website?” What many business owners don’t realize is that most websites have opportunities for businesses to seamlessly link to each other, creating benefit for each other and the local community. Do your local partners have a blog?

How about a local event calendar? Do they have a list of community partnerships or even just a place to host ads? The more of these backlinks you can create, the higher you will show up in local results.

The New Phone Book

Contrary to popular opinion, paper phone books still exist.

Before computers took over the job of storing all information, businesses created listings with the help of the phone company, getting a free placement in the phone book.

Today, web searchers use local directories like Yelp, Foursquare and YP.com to find basic phone numbers and addresses.

Making sure your information is claimed, corrected and uniform across all these directories improves your local presence that much more.

While this work may seem tedious, every visitor to one of these directories is a dedicated local looking to patronize a business in their community.

A great first step is a quick listing audit on GetListed.org.

GetListed searches the web for your business and lets you know the status of your listing across 13 local directories.

They then offer you a link to each directory where you can go through the process of claiming your listing and getting the information correct and fully optimized.

Depending on what type of business you have, you may be able to find industry-specific directories that are more targeted to your client base.

Industries like medicine, education and auto have countless databases and search engines dedicated to getting users where they want to go.

Getting your businesses listed increases successful searches from local users, which improves your local rankings.

Because local SEO is so important, we are holding a FREE Local SEO webinar tomorrow, April 25, 2013 at 3PM called, Local SEO Secrets.

To register for this totally FREE local SEO webinar simply click the image below!

eMarketer projects Twitter to expand to 36.3 million monthly U.S. users in 2013, up from 31.8 million in 2012.

Twitter can be a great way to drive traffic to your website. Twitter is free to use and if done properly, tweeting can be a powerful tool in helping your site get found while raising your rankings on search engine results pages.

One of the quickest and easiest viral campaigns you can start right away that can increase your SEO rankings is to start a Twitter petition.

Setting Up A Page On Your Website

Most small businesses already have a cause that they support but are you making the most of this association? Petitions can be created to support local small business causes that affect the community where the business is located. You can also search causes.org and idealist.org to see what petitions people are supporting locally.

Once you know which cause you want to support, here are some instructions for how to get started.

If you don’t have the internal assets to setup the petition directly on your site, setup the petition with a company experienced in creating an online petition form. Whatever site you use to host your petition, make sure you understand how their petitions work and the site’s terms of service and privacy policies. Take time to check out each site and look at the different types of petitions that are hosted. What approach most appeals to you?

Some of the more popular petition hosting sites include:

The Petition Site, hosted by Care2. This is an online community for healthy and green living. Every petition created on Care2 is automatically available on Facebook – so your Facebook friends or fans can sign the petition on the social networking site. They also offer an embedded petition widget that lets people sign your petition on any website or blog. Additional petition sites which make setup easy include Petition Spot, ePetitions.net, and Change.org.

Setup a “Sign the Petition Now” page on your website. Make sure you include background on your organization and include information on why you support the petition and why this is important to the organization. Include statements from staff and images that support the cause/ message you want to promote. Here is a great example page of a Twitter petition campaign which went viral in 2013 and clearly represents the people behind it: http://fixoutlook.org/

Also include a note with an e-mail address for people to reach you if they want to partner with your organization or further contact you regarding the cause. Also include an address or P.O. Box for them to contact the recipient of the petition directly.

Tailoring the Message to Go Viral

What are you asking supporters to agree with and sign their name in support of? What does your petition hope to achieve? Who is the target recipient of your petition? State your objective in clear, concise language. Follow with your proposed solution. Also, describe who the petition will be delivered to and the date of delivery (if applicable).

Re-read your statement and ask yourself: Will this statement convince someone to sign? Use persuasive language to highlight the urgency of your issue.

Here are some sample messages which are clear, concise and demand action:

• Obama
• MarsPhoenix
• Mount Everest
• Occupy WallStreet
• Crime Fighting
• Anthony Weinergate
• BP Oil Spill

Posting the Tweet to Twitter

To post a Tweet via the web:

1. Sign in to your Twitter account.
2. Type your Tweet into the box on the left side of your screen, or click the blue compose new Tweet button in the top navigation bar. It looks like this:

Twitter Composition Field

3. Make sure your update is fewer than 140 characters. We’ll count the characters for you! Remaining characters show up as a number below the box.
4. Make sure you include the link back to your website page you created the support the cause.
5. Include an emotional picture that is hopeful, and not depressing.
6. Click the Tweet button to post the Tweet to your profile.
7. You will immediately see your Tweet in the timeline on your homepage.

Posting the Message to Facebook

You can go the extra mile by also posting your message to Facebook, send out to bloggers and through your traditional advertising streams. The more people who see your message, the more successful your campaign will be.
Increase your visibility with a viral message

Petitions can bring tens of thousands of visitors directly to your website and that traffic can boost your overall search rankings. Re-tweeted messages are known to directly increase your search results in a short period of time. Content shared on Twitter can be indexed by the search engines and actually rank in the search results. The more time a piece of content is Tweeted and re-Tweeted, the more important it becomes in the eyes of the search engines. Just like your site thrives off of quality links, so do social signals.

Tweet smart

Craft the message of your petition in a smart way. Try to also include important keywords in the first 42 characters of your tweets that you want to rank for, or tie the petition to your industry to make this more easily accomplished in a subtle manner. These initial characters, along with your account name, are factored into each tweet’s title tag that appears on a Google search result. If you can’t get a keyword in the initial 42 characters, make sure the rest of your tweet is keyword-rich so it’ll be picked up by the search engines.

Tweet regularly

Tweet out and change the message of your post staying on topic as much as possible so you remain relevant to your target audience. It’s okay to have some fun and go off-topic occasionally, but make sure you tweet out a new call out message to support your petition and include keyword-rich content, which encourages Google to rank your Twitter page higher than others.

If your message is tailored to go viral and supports a good cause people will re-tweet your message and help you reach new audiences. But, you need to make it easy for them to do so by using only around 120 characters and leaving room for others to add to the end of your tweets.

Use URL shorteners

Since you can only use 140 characters in any tweet, keep your web address or url short. If this is not possible, use a good URL shortener such as TinyURL or Bit.ly. These tools will shorten your address but still direct people to your pages.

Add hashtags

The hashtag symbol “#” follows a keyword and allows users who aren’t connected to have their tweets appear in the same feed. This can help you get found by other users and lead to re-tweets. Make sure you add this to the end of your post to increase the visibility of your message.

Want to learn more about how to use Twitter to increase search rankings? Contact Stream Companies or leave a comment below and one of our search engine optimization specialists will review your site and send you a proposal tailored to promote your local business.

Susan Connelly is Stream Companies’ Senior SEO Consultant.

Click To learn more about her and Stream Companies

A proliferation of non-traditional media channels – that are highly DIY, designed to encourage sharing, and allow you to connect to your audience in an instant – are giving videos everywhere a second life. Best of all, these low- or no- cost solutions require no additional video editing or revisions.

Here are the top five ways that you should be re-using existing video:

Web – Your homepage, product or services pages, about us pages, microsites & landing pages… all are areas that beg for great video content. Think of the message contained in your current video; where does that message apply on your website?

Email Marketing – Embedded video can make a typical email blast come to life. Don’t just tell your audience about the benefits and features of your brand… show them.

YouTube – YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine. If you have video, it needs to be here. Best of all, you can set up your own account and start uploading in just minutes.

Social – Post your video to Facebook, Pinterest, and anywhere else where you have a social presence. It’s an easy way to be seen by your audience and their networks of friends.

Blog – If you have a blog, revolve a post around your video. Add some quick copy that expands on the video’s message and content.

NOTE: Make sure that your video does not have outdated information, retail messages, or statistics before taking these steps!

But what if you are a new business owner?

Using this array of data may be difficult because of your lack of historical internal information.

Usually new business owners will use their past work experience in the industry to help them prepare for certain seasonality trends. But what if your new business is selling some products that are unfamiliar to you?

Or what if you are starting your business online from your home in Florida, but want to reach customers in the Mid-west? Their tastes and buying habits may be quite different.

Quick, readily available insights from Google Trends may be your answer.

Google Trends is a free online tool that shows historic search query volume for a given term, all the way back to 2004.

Moreover, you can dive into this information by country, state, and even regions within states. And unlike historic government data which may take weeks, months, or even years to procure, Google Trends are updated hourly!

Google Trends also provide “hot searches” from the past 24 hours, or search queries that have recently seen a huge influx of traffic (which is great for blog posts!).

So here’s a real world example. Let’s say you own a retail hunting and fishing business in Virginia. You have decided you want to start serving customers online and offer shipping to your surrounding states.

To support this new business, you start a paid search campaign (smart man!) to target hunting enthusiasts from New England to Virginia. The trouble is each state has its own set of hunting regulations and seasons.

There is documentation available on government websites to comb through, but there is a much quicker way to identify when people are going online to research or buy hunting gear.

A simple Google Trends search for “buck hunting” set geographically for “Pennsylvania” takes a few seconds and provides a pretty telling tale:

Buck Hunting in PA

You can see for the last several years the apparent trends in search interest.

Searches begin to trend up in October, spike in November, and start a sharp trend down in December.

From this trend report, you know when searches are heaviest and what months are most likely to result in the highest clicks (and hopefully sales as well).

You’ll also know that the best time to kick off your Buck Hunting Equipment ad group for Pennsylvania is late September and that it can probably be paused before Thanksgiving.

This is just one of many, many possibilities on how you can utilize Google Trends to increase your search engine knowledge to your relevant industry.

Happy hunting from Stream Companies and Brock Clauser!

With the traditional media, such as TV commercials and radio spots, advertisers can spark the emotions of a consumer.  By pulling at our heart strings or making us laugh they are creating an emotional response which ties us to their product or service. This is what good advertising does–it makes us remember the ad and more importantly, the product. Take for example, this Nissan Leaf commercial,

A polar bear walks all the way from Alaska to a city environment just to hug a man driving a Leaf.  I don’t know about you, but I will never forget this commercial just because of the feeling it evoked.

On the other end of the spectrum, I think the new Old Spice commercials are hilarious and find myself buying the product when I never did before.

In terms of digital display ads, we don’t have the luxury of telling a story and really interacting with the consumer.  This leaves the digital space deluded when trying to reach your audience and create brand awareness. Try to think of one digital ad you remember seeing, can you?  Don’t get me wrong; digital advertising is and can be very important to your company as long as you are doing it right.  You just have to be a little more surgical in your approach when delivering your ads.  Below is a list of some things that can help you do just that…

THE SCAPEL:  Geo-targeting & Retargeting-  Geo-target to potential customers so your ad placement actually makes sense.  Have a good map laid out (in miles) surrounding your business that would be an ideal radius to deliver ads. Retarget to customers who have already shown interest in your business. Place pixels on your site so you can cookie people who have already visited.  This allows you to deliver ads to them down the road as they surf the web else were, bringing them further down the advertising funnel.

THE CLAMPS:  The creative-   Remember digital ads are not great for creating brand awareness because the space is watered down with many other ads; run an ad that is a “quick fix.”  Have an ad that promotes an upcoming promotion or deal opposed to running an ad with just a logo as to who and what you are.

THE SURGICAL HAMMER: If you are running the correct creative in the correct market, really hammer it in.  For the most part, digital advertising is cheap compared to the traditional means of advertising like TV and radio. So run, run, run, and run some more. If you are being surgical in your approach and taking the correct steps in running, your ads you should be delivering as much as possible.

So, yes, granted there are speed bumps in the road that is display advertising. However, you can easily avoid them and help ensure your ads are doing what they should be…You just have to know how to navigate them.

Having a creative block? Stuck on  your next project? 

Never fear. Sometimes all it takes are a few go-to resources that you can draw from. I’ve put a few of my favorite sites that are sure to kick start your creativity. 

Campaign Monitor 

Campaign Monitor is one of my favorite places to go for inspiration. They have a great gallery that they frequently update. While you can scroll on forever, you can also narrow your choices from one column emails to invitations and more. Campaign monitor also has great resources on how to design for the inbox, responsive email designs, coding your emails and more. It is an overall great website for when you need inspiration and knowledge about emails.

MailChimp 

This is also another site that I use for inspiration. It’s similar to pinterest, where you just keep scrolling and scrolling. MailChimp also has a resource section on their website. It is a great library about everything email marketing! While MailChimp has a lot of great work on here, it would be nice if was set up similar to Campaign Monitor. But overall it is a great source of design.

Creattica 

Creattica has more than just email design inspiration. They cover four areas of design: Web and Screen, Art and Design, Print Design and Multimedia. Their Email Design section is very good. They have a good amount of different types of emails, and it also has a social aspect to it as well; you can sign up and submit your own designs. Viewers have the option to “favorite” your work which is similar to “liking” something on Facebook.

Dribbble 

Dribbble is a community of designers. Designers post snippets or “shots” of their work. This is a good source for anything design. You can search for specific tags. just take a look at the latest or even search by color. I find this site very useful for finding new ways to make icons, buttons and other elements in the email. While you can sign up for dribbble, you won’t be able to submit work until someone invites you to be a “Player.” You start as a “Prospect” and can still like people’s work and follow designers.

Sign Up!

Yes, this isn’t a specific site, but I have signed up for multiple newsletters and sales emails over the years for the purpose of creating my own library. Pick emails that are similar to what you currently design for. If you do a lot of retail emails, pick places like Target, Fossil and JCPenney. See what they are doing and how you may be able to incorporate what they are doing in your designs. I would recommend you create a separate email account for this purpose,  that way your personal account doesn’t get overloaded. Believe me, I know from experience.