Integrated Marketing and Design Studio Launches New Site and Opens Its Doors In Downtown Nashua

Integrated Marketing and Design Firm, Bill Schick Design, LLC, Launched it's new web site www.billschickdesign.com, and open the doors of its new offices in downtown Nashua, NH in Q1, 2008. The new site showcases the firm's unique, comprehensive marketing and design services with robust service descriptions, overviews of the team, and over 150 portfolio samples of work completed. Samples include web site design, integrated marketing campaigns (purls), logo design, and brochure design.

In addition, the two-year-old company has opened its first offices in downtown Nashua. The new space is located at 92 Main Street, and includes 1,000 square feet of work space.

She's Just riding a Skate Board

This is just ridiculous. What's next? Stop being sheep and get active.

Law Enforcement Going Too Far. Again.

Thomas and Friends Toy Train Recall

As a parent of a 4 year old boy, I have been sucked into the Thomas and Friends frenzy. My son has the Thomas table, with the wooden trains—more trains than i thought could be had. He also has the "Take Along Thomas" set... with even more trains. And God-forbid we have one train for the wooden set and not for the Take Along set.

Anyone who has a child who loves Thomas (and what child isn't attracted to his cheekiness?) knows that these trains don't come cheaply. They are so well marketed as classic, high-quality British toys, that we only grumble a little bit at the $20/train price tag. We know that only the finest craftsmen and women painstakingly create each little wooden train with tenderness and love for our children.

Not.

I learned today that the wonderfully crafted trains are not built in the U.S. or in Britain (do they actually manufacture anything there—or here for that matter?)—but that these EXPENSIVE trains are made in CHINA.

Now I know most of what we buy is made in China. And I get it. Labor's cheap there—so we can get cheap goods here. But if you're going to make something cheaply, then pass along the savings to me. I always assumed that the $20 train price tag carried with it the assurance that some child wasn't sweating away at slave wages to make this train. And who knows? Perhaps the people making these trains in China are getting top dollar there. But I'm pretty sure that there's a nice, hefty mark up on these trains.

There's another reason to be bugged. And this is the only reason I found out these pricey little tank engines were made in China—the recall on some engines that made with lead paint. LEAD PAINT. According to wikipedia, "lead is extremely toxic to living organisms…" and "It is especially dangerous to children under age six whose bodies are still developing. Lead causes nervous system damage, hearing loss, stunted growth, reduced IQ, and delayed development. It can cause kidney damage. Lead affects every organ system of the body."

When was the last time you saw a child put a Thomas Train in their mouth? The US banned lead paint in 1978 for residential use. Thirty years later China is making toys with it??? Toys that target young boys and girls ages 3 - ???

This is ridiculous. For $20 a train, I want these trains made somewhere with good working conditions, good pay, and civil rights. While that probably isn't the US right now, there are plenty of other countries with better track records. And we do have plenty of skilled people to craft these energetic engines, and government oversight to (generally speaking) make sure our toys aren't poisonous.

What to do? I am weak. He loves the trains. So we limit the purchases, and mostly buy when they're on sale—which they are every couple of weeks at AC Moore. The sales are usually 40% off—so we know there's plenty of mark up. I'm not certain a boycott would work... how do you explain a boycott to a 4 year old? If you have an answer, post it below. I'd love to hear about it.

pURLs for Printers

Even if you don't offer pURLs (personal url) through your printing business—you can still benefit from them as a marketing tool. If you're in sales and marketing for a printing company, you know that response rates to your direct mail programs generally generate abysmal response. We understand that as well—we've been on all three sides of that equation: we've worked for printers, marketed printers, and been on the receiving end of their marketing. So we have a unique perspective when it comes to marketing for printing companies.

Using this experience, we recently created a pURL marketing campaign for a regional printing company. Response rates have been incredible—7%! And this includes approximately 30 brand new leads with companies that had never heard of the printer before, who are interested in working with them.

If you're looking to boost printing sales, and need a new way to do it, consider pURLs.

pURLs Article Featured in Fund Raising Success

Recently we were interviewed for an article in Fund Raising Success regarding pURLs. You can read that article here: http://www.fundraisingsuccessmag.com/story/story.bsp?sid=53322&var=story

pURLS and Flash increasing interest and engagement

In an effort to further add value to an already amazing platform, Bill Schick Design, LLC has developed a unique and exclusive methodology to create dynamic Flash applications for use with pURL programs. pURL programs are personalized URLs that work together with direct mail programs to boost response. Incorporating Flash in these programs furthers the dynamic quality, potentially increase response rates. The few other companies offering pURLs are just scratching the surface of these programs and are not even looking at adding Flash, let alone dynamic Flash.

We've been creating dynamic direct marketing campaigns for 10 years, and over a year ago added pURLs to our programs, seeing dynamic response lifts and reduction in cost for our clients. By incorporating not just Flash—but dynamic Flash, we add further value to our clients' programs. We see a lift in response rates by incorporating user information in html pages, and by embedding their information dynamically in their Flash animations, the programs are that much more engaging.

For example, another pURL program might offer only customizable text content within their purl program, adding a stand alone static Flash introduction as a "value add". But those offerings are separate and reduce the effectiveness of the campaign. The whole point of having a dynamic pURL is PERSONALIZATION. And if every aspect of the program isn't personalized, then effectiveness is comprimised. We've worked directly with the leader in purl programs—MindFireInc.com—to create a dynamic way to incorporate the user data the drives the dynamic portions of the pURL sites into Flash animations on the fly. Where other pURL programs only offer the ability to incorporate the content in static html in the web pages, we can now embed the data directly in the flash file, allow us to animate and further engage prospects in the program.

For more information of pURL programs, dynamic Flash, and giving your direct marketing programs a boost, contact Bill Schick Design.

Venom from Spiderman 3

This 7 minute preview for Spiderman 3 on NBC was just too cool. And for the first time we get to see the symbiot costume—or half of Venom. Very, very cool.

The hardest part of selling 1.5

I JUST posted my comments on the hardest part of selling (for me anyway), and I was reviewing some news over the weekend and noticed this banner advertisement for the BlackBerry Pearl (I'm always looking at what the "big" companies are doing). Now, it's a neat ad, but I have a problem with the message, and it's not helping me build trust in the phone.

Let's start off with this premise: Stylish is Subjective. What I think is stylish is different from what my father thinks is stylish is different from what my brother thinks is style is different... you get the picture.

So I saw this ad, and saw "Small, Smart and Stylish." I'll ignore that since Apple announced the iPhone I've looked at "smart phones" differently and focus on the Stylish. I am a firm believer that you can't tell me something is stylish. You communicate that in other ways—through slick advertising, showing people I want to be using the product, or wearing the clothes. If a stranger walks up to you and says, "these pants are stylish, buy them," your first reaction is... ?

Same thing with this ad. I understand they needed a word to make the alliteration work, but in this case, I think the writing technique is getting in the way of the device. And if they needed another "s" word, why not something like sophisticated or even...

sublime.

What is the hardest part of selling your service to a new client?

Do you think it's getting them to understand the value? Or getting past the price?

Recently I've been thrust into a major sales role for my design and marketing studio. Not intentionally—but almost by mistake. I'm a designer and marketer at heart. I enjoy the creative process and coming up with ways to help our clients achieve their business goals through graphic design and marketing solutions. And in the past, we might have received 1 or 2 new inquiries from our web site a month. Not a ton, but coupled with referrals, this kept us reasonably busy—and I was able to balance the creative process with the sales side of the business.

So recently I was talking to a friend in the business, and we were talking about generating leads, and I mentioned that we had 11 leads in the last 2 weeks from our site. While impressed, he focused on the sales aspect of the process and asked how I was doing converting those to sales, and what the hardest part of the process was.

I had to think for only a moment before answering.

When a client is looking for creative—or any service—without the benefit of a referral, they don't have the benefit of the input of a friend, family member or associate. Often times, they only have some form of marketing material to go from—a web site, a direct mail or purl, or a brochure. They are immediately on guard against clichéd marketing statements and hyperbole. If you are then able to get a sales meeting with the prospect, they are further on guard for classic sales techniques. So what is the hardest part of the sales process?

Building trust. People would rather buy a down to earth—realistically presented product from someone they trust than a pie in the sky solution from someone they don't. For example, our studio (which is relatively small) beat out a larger, more established Manchester-based studio for a good-sized branding project. When I asked why we earned the business, the owner said, "You came in, you convinced me you understood what we needed to do, presented some real solutions, and you earned my trust. That other company came in, made some vague statements, demanded a high retainer, and didn't have a single suggestion. Your studio may be smaller—but I felt I could trust my business to you."

So most important than selling your services—get them to trust you. And really earn it, don't just use it as schtick.

How can you build trust in marketing materials?

I've seen people with great services and products throw "marketing babble" into their materials because "everyone else does it this way." Well, we now recognize these for what they are—empty words. You can tell someone you're "the best"—"the premiere"—"the most professional"—"state-of-the-art" whatever-your-service-is around, and it means nothing to a prospect. YOU don't buy that garbage, why should your customers?

You can't tell prospects to trust you, it's a feeling they get over time. And you can't tell them to "trust you" in your materials, no matter how reliable, professional or trustworthy you are, they're not going to believe it. Your best bet is to get someone else to tell your prospect how they trusted you with their investment, project or business, and how you succeeded in delivering. And since you can't have every prospect the phone number of your best client, you need to get that another way.

Here are the ways I use, and I have my clients use to build that trust:

• Quotes attributed to a specific person
• Case studies with real companies
• Photos
• Testimonials
• Letters of recommendation

If you do a great job, and deliver more than you promised, you should have no problem at the end of a project asking for any or all of these.

Why does this work? Ask yourself what's my best source of work? I bet most of you think "referrals". And that's what ALL of my clients tell me. And all these five things I've listed are are referrals. They're always available, they don't fade, and they tell a story—the story of how one person somewhere else trusted you to work for or with them, and how you delivered.

So, earn your prospects trust—legitimately—and you have a really good shot at earning their business.