BTWCG Moves Web Clients To Modern Mythos

Brian Thomas Wright Creative Group will be passing the torch onto Modern Mythos.

BTWCG will be closing it doors but Modern Mythos will be assisting our web clients grow their businesses.

The Key to Success During an Economic Downturn

Whether the Great Depression or an economic Recession, many companies have made great strides by focusing on one thing – awareness. Proctor & Gamble pushed Ivory soap during the Depression and increased revenue; during the 1990-1991 recession Intel advertised “Intel Inside” to greater market share; and Wal-Mart dominated its competition with “Everyday Low Prices” during the 2000-2001 economic slowdown.

While your rivals are cutting back, you can benefit from aggressively marketing your business. There are countless marketing options to choose from that will improve your company’s brand awareness. To name a few, you can start a New Media campaign, hit the streets with a grass roots marketing effort, or simply send out a business letter to generate awareness about your products or services. Consumers don’t completely stop spending during a recessions or depressions, they just look for the best deals. It pays to be in front of them at these times with reasons your product or service makes sense.

In 2005 Penn State Smeal College of Business released the report, “Turning Adversity into Advantage: Does proactive marketing during a recession pay off?” The report described the three characteristics a business needs to succeed in a recession. After surveying 154 senior marketing execs they found that a business must:

1) Already value marketing.
2) Possess the willingness to take a risk and increase marketing.
3) Have additional resources to invest in extra marketing.

If you want your business to not only survive an economic slump but also thrive, you need to harness your entrepreneurial spirit and do everything you can to generate awareness.

3 Steps To Success In A Slowing Economy

You've most likely heard of the three things a business needs to be successful – location, location and location. However, during challenging economic times there is something else that is just as important – marketing, marketing and marketing.

When times get tough, it's more important than ever to generate awareness of your business. When times are good, the work never seems to stop and extra effort in marketing doesn't seem necessary. But in a sluggish market, those who successfully market their businesses will continue to attract customers while their competitors are slashing their marketing budgets and falling behind.

Here are a few basic tips to boost your marketing efforts without busting your budget:
1) Get Back To Basics – Now is the time to continue the successful marketing strategies that have worked in the past. 
2) Focus On Your Best Products/Services – Remember the 80/20 rule: 80% of profit comes from 20% of your products and/or services. Drop the ones that aren't producing and focus on the ones that are.
3) Focus On Service and Information – Customers are going to spend their dollars with those companies that provide good service and readily available information about the products and services they provide.

Don't let the economy slow your business down – speed it up with marketing, marketing and marketing.

Your Best Marketing Tool

The business card is one of the most recognized and widely used marketing tools. However, it is also the most under utilized. While networking, you should always have a stack on hand. This is the best way to get your contact information into the hands of those who potentially want to use your products or services. Sounds simple enough, but I’m sure we’ve all had the experience of digging around in our pockets looking for a business card only to end up writing our contact information on a napkin.

There are countless design configurations for a successful business card, but the basic rule is to make sure that your contact information is easy to read and easy to find. Your business card is the first glimpse many will have of your company’s brand and it’s important that your card represents your image well.

As your company’s staff grows, every person who hands out a business cards is further expanding your brand awareness. This seemingly insignificant two-inch by three-and-a-half-inch card can play a major role in helping your business becomes a recognized brand.

3 Quick Marketing Tips for 2008

Kick-start 2008 with these easy to implement marketing gems.

1 | A Signature Item That Stands Out

On average we send and receive 20 to 40 emails a day. That’s 6,000 to 12,000 a year – wow. It's pretty amazing when you stop to think about it. Why not use the opportunity to remind your customers or clients about your products and services. Simply place your unobtrusive, one-sentence reminder just below your signature, title and contact information. We recommend that you frequently change this tag-line to keep the area fresh and new.

2 | Voice Mail With A Message
When someone tries to call you and your voice mail picks up, this is a great place to say more than just your name and “please leave you name and number.” Add your company tag-line to the greeting or better yet, state what your company is all about in a clear-cut sentence. We’ve added to our voice mail, “Thank you for calling the Brian Thomas Wright Creative Group – providing design and marketing for your growing business. Please leave your name and number and we’ll be sure to call you right back. Thank you.” The perfect way to remind past, present and new clients who your are and what you do.

3 | Focus On Great Customer Service
The most inexpensive line item on any marketing plan is to provide excellent customer service. Trouble is that it can also be the hardest thing to do. As customers and clients become more and more demanding, it’s becoming harder then ever to be all things to everyone. So pick just one customer service item you want to improve and focus on improving it. You’ll soon find that staying consistent with that one focus will lead to excellent, consistent customer service all yearlong.

Gingerbread Logo Cookies

This year, create something special that will standout from traditional gingerbread cookies. Your logo in gingerbread will surely stir up conversation and be remembered for holiday seasons to come. These cookie are great client gifts, reception counter treats, and simply fun to eat.

Follow these easy steps:

1. Select a part of your logo that is simple to reproduce in a cookie form. We used the image of Brian running in our logo. A running gingerbread man.

2. Print out this single image onto heavy photo stock paper and cut out a template. Make sure the image is 3 to 4 inches tall or wide depending on shape of the image.

3. Place your template on the dough and use a paring knife to cut out cookies. Follow cooking instruction below.

4. Decorate cooled cookies with your company's colors in your favorite icing and be sure to keep it simple. We used the tie and iced another template with the tie cut out.







MOLASSES-GINGERBREAD COOKIES
Makes about 24 logo cookies.
5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, extra flour for rolling
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon ground clove
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup dark-brown sugar
2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups unsulfured molasses

1) Mix flour, baking soda, salt, and spices together in a medium sized bowl.

2) Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Add eggs one by one making sure to beat well. Beat in molasses. Reduce the mixing speed to the slowest setting. Gradually add flour mix and beat until evenly combined. Divide dough into thirds and wrap each ball or bundle in plastic. Refrigerate for one hour.

3) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place flour dusting onto parchment paper and roll dough to a 1/4 inch thick. Brush off excess flour off of rolled dough. Place in freezer for 20 minutes.

4) Cut out cookies (as described above) and transfer to parchment lined baking sheets and freeze for 20 minutes.

5) Bake cookies for 5 minutes. Remove cookies from oven and tap on oven top or counter to flatten cookies. Place back in oven and bake for 3 to 5 minutes. Make sure they do not darken unless your logo needs that effect.

6) Cool on parchment sheets or wire racks.

" Wow! This is quite amazing! Who would have ever thought you could make your logo into a cookie."

-- Emily Boyd, UO Alumni Association

Truly Remarkable Checking

I thought it would be almost impossible for a financial institution to offer a checking account that would generate a higher return on interest than most savings accounts but guess what? Oregon Community Credit Union has done just that.

Just last month, the OCCU introduced Remarkable Checking. Can you believe it? Something remarkable sitting out in plain view for everyone to see.

I jumped into my car and visited my local branch to ask what the catch was. You know what they said? No catch. The credit union was just wanting to act like a credit union by serving its members the best they could. Sure you need to sign up for online banking, get your statements via the website and use your ATM card ten times but hey, who's not doing that already.

You know what? By getting your statements online you save paper which saves trees. That's good news. And also when you sign up for Remarkable Checking you can use any ATM for FREE. Yes FREE. Yes any ATM. Not just credit union ATM's, but the banks ATM's as well. Now that worth the switch all by itself.

Sometime businesses forget that the best marketing they can do is provide the best services they can and the good will generated will most certainly grow their business.