When it comes to social platforms, the size of Facebook’s community continues to lead the pack. Facebook boasts 1.37 billion daily active users worldwide, with the number of Facebook users in the United States expected to reach 207.36 million.

That’s a lot of eyeballs, and if your business doesn’t have a presence on the platform, you’ll unequivocally miss out on countless opportunities to grow brand awareness, and ultimately, increase revenue.

By now, most businesses have at least developed a business-specific page on Facebook that says to users, “Hey, I’m here!” But, consider how you can stand out and wow your existing and potential customers with thoughtful posts and engaging content.

We’ve developed a list of Facebook facts to help take your business to the next level in 2018.

Back to basics
Considering all the flashy features Facebook has to offer, it’s easy to overlook the simple building blocks of effective communication with your customers. Make sure the “About” section on your page reflects your business’ correct hours of operation, contact information, including a telephone number, email and address, and a quick, descriptive line or two about your products or services. If customers can’t get a hold of you, or if they’re unsure of your purpose, you risk losing their interest and trust.

It takes two
If you want your customers to engage with your content, your page and ultimately your brand, make sure you also spend time engaging with your customers and acknowledging interactions. Respond to reviews, both negative and positive. Take the time to “Like” or reply to comments and photos visitors leave on your page’s wall. Highlight positive customer and vendor interactions by tagging them, with permission, in posts. Don’t forget to venture outside of your page and engage on other pages to expand the reach of the conversation.

Video, video, video
Video posts dominate today’s social media landscape and continue to garner more attention from users over other forms of media. Don’t let fear get in the way of taking part in the trend — you don’t need a professional videographer to shoot videos for posting on your Facebook page. In fact, people forgive less-than-stellar production quality video as long as the story keeps them engaged. Do a little research on how to shoot quality videos using just your smartphone. Pro tip: before you post your video, add captioning manually or using Facebook’s automated tool, as more and more users watch videos, but in many cases with the sound off for part or all of the video.

Do it live
Authentically promote your brand by enlisting the help of Facebook Live. This feature provides users a unique, inside look into your business through the power of immediacy. Plus, anyone can do it — simply determine an interesting facet of your business, aim and shoot! Develop your talking points or a full script, whatever makes you more comfortable in front of the camera. The purpose is to increase engagement on your page while delivering content your audience will like. You can also continue the two-way conversation by responding to comments during the live event. And, if Facebook gives live videos a boost using its algorithm — meaning the platform puts your live videos in front of more people — you should take advantage.

Keep it consistent
A successful Facebook page relies on consistency in a variety of ways. Always make sure the tone and imagery of your Facebook remain true to your overall branding. However, you can let your brand’s guard down and use a more casual attitude across the platform, even if your brand typically employs a more formal approach. Remember, the goal remains engaging with your audience, so take note of how they speak and incorporate that into your posting strategy. Most importantly, make sure you post regularly. A Facebook page with stale and outdated content can cause distrust and force your audience to go elsewhere.

Rules of engagement
For those businesses unwilling or afraid to step onto the Facebook scene, rules of engagement provide clear parameters to help guide the conversation on your page. Set guidelines in your “About” section including the prohibition of profanity on your page, the ability to delete comments not related to the post and intolerance of personal attacks. You may need to decide whether or not addressing negative feedback or aggression on your page publically can provide a better customer experience overall. By responding to negative content publically, you can offer a professional and friendly solution that upholds your reputation among other audience members.

At the end of the day, engaging with your audience regularly and authentically through quality content, engaging conversations and meaningful interactions will put your business ahead of the rest.

Facebook’s latest algorithm update penalizes “engagement-bait” material — posts that overtly encourage comments, likes and shares — and prioritizes personal pages and posts over public and business pages’ content. This means Facebook ad space will diminish making inventory more valuable and potentially more expensive. Businesses that proactively engage audiences in organic ways, however, can improve the likelihood of appearing higher and more often across user feeds.

While this blog provided a few tips to jumpstart your focus in 2018, Facebook boasts many additional features to utilize and incorporate into your strategy. Let us know what Facebook features you’d like to hear about or questions you have in the comments section. Or, even better, tag us on Facebook at @abrightidea and let’s start a conversation.

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User-generated content (UGC) takes the form of content, usually photos or videos, created in support of a product, brand, idea or trend. Brands publish the content on social media channels, such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, to allow for republishing content on their own social channels to further promote the brand and build loyalty among audiences.

UGC offers a ripe opportunity for businesses to build a community around their brand. Similar to giving a compliment, UGC represents something everyone likes getting because it makes us feel good and encourages us. Similarly, when a business shares content that one of their customers posted on their social media page, the business compliments that person by featuring their content and thanking them for their business. This type of public recognition creates stronger customer loyalty to the brand.

Speaking of loyalty, some may say, “brand loyalty is dead or dying,” but consider these statistics from Accenture describing the behaviors of U.S. consumers:

• 57 % spend more on brands or providers simply for loyalty
• 51% show loyalty to brands that interact with them through their preferred channels of communication
• 55% express loyalty by recommending the brands and companies they love to family friends
• 14% publicly endorse or defend a brand or organization on social media

Building community around your brand is absolutely still important and UGC can help you achieve the community you want for almost no additional cost to you, the business. Explore UGC with the following best practices.

UGC best practices
After monitoring all your social media properties, it’s clear people tag your business, your products, even your staff in their photos on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Before you start posting customer content as your own, review a few rules of courtesy to abide by when possible.

1. Ask for permission to use someone’s photo, video or GIF. Simply message the person using the direct messaging feature built into the respective social media channel. Compliment them and mention how you would love to share on your account. Nine times out of 10, flattered by your request, they happily oblige.
2. Give photo credit in your post. A photo credit could be as simple as “(Photo cred: @username)” or “(: @username).”
3. Recognize the person or business in your post thanking them for their business or support. You can also subtly weave in a key message. Just make sure the post reflects more about them than you.

Examples of great uses of UGC
If you still can’t envision how UGC works or how it looks for your business, read through the examples of effective UGC use below.

Take a look at each example noting the photo composition, the caption and the tag of the photographer. In each case, the brand used short and simple captions, emojis and tagged the photographer. Using the camera emoji or the word, “Regram,” before the users’ tag signifies the original photographer.

Starbucks:

Buffer:

Bass Pro Shops:

Ben & Jerry’s:

Perfect example of expert use of UGC
While the above examples make it pretty clear what UGC looks like in practice, we offer one more perfect example of how a restaurant successfully executed UGC on social media to promote their brand and turn a visitor into a loyal follower.A restaurant wanted to promote their weekly Wednesday ramen night. They monitored their Instagram account for recent posts for public posts tagging their business or their restaurant location was tagged. They found a sharp photo of ramen from the week before that matched the look and feel of their feed.

This execution checked a few boxes for the restaurant. It promoted the ramen night, garnered awareness and attention for the business and boosted brand loyalty for that person.

Have you considered using user-generated content to build a stronger community around your brand? If you already use UGC on your social media accounts, how’s it going? Let us know in the comments or share your best execution.

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LinkedIn — the most professional of all social media platforms. You know its importance, you recognize its value, but you may not fully understand how to leverage its features for your professional benefit.

Unlike other social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, many people check in on their LinkedIn profiles on a less frequent basis. Sometimes seen as the “black sheep” of social media, you might find daily touchpoints unnecessary, but it doesn’t make the platform any less of an essential tool to utilize in your professional life. LinkedIn provides a space for businesses, employees and jobseekers to digitally network with other professionals in any given industry.

So, if you find yourself at a loss for ramping up your LinkedIn profile and making the most of its capabilities, follow A. Bright Idea’s five Cs of LinkedIn to make your profile stand out while adding some weight to your online presence.

CREATE your personal brand
According to Business Insider, many hiring managers make up their mind about a prospective employee within the first seven seconds of meeting them. Meaning, first impressions carry a tremendous amount of weight. Treat your LinkedIn profile the same way. To demonstrate your professionalism in the online world, make sure to upload a recent, high-resolution headshot as your profile image. Paying close attention to these details helps build your personal brand and invites others into the essence of what you offer through your experience and professionalism.

CONNECT with other industry leaders
Expand your network and increase the opportunities available to you by connecting with colleagues, industry experts, high-level CEOs, clients or key community leaders. Doing so can serve as an especially fruitful tool when looking to reach members of a different industry, or one in which you have a specific interest. LinkedIn connections can also garner new skill endorsements, thus building your credibility and profile views.

CAPTURE attention with your experience
Develop a brief but engaging summary of your experience to give profile viewers a glimpse into your professional background. Don’t shy away from including interests, passions and professional development experiences in which you participate. All of these assets build a well-rounded professional background and provide industry experts a clear picture of everything you bring to the table.

CULTIVATE relationships through engagement
We see no exception to the notion of “you get what you give” on LinkedIn. Build relationships with your connections by endorsing their skills a minimum of one to two times per week and engaging with their posted content through likes, comments and shares. Not only will this demonstrate the value you place in the individual you promote, it will encourage them to do the same for you.

CAPTIVATE your audience through content
Use your expertise to write compelling content specific to your industry or profession. Developing useful, sharable content showcases your background and experience for your current and potential connections. Garner their attention by also sharing industry-related articles, further positioning yourself as an expert in your field and staying up-to-date with the latest trends.

By implementing the five Cs of LinkedIn, you will quickly grow your network, business opportunities and partners online – all with a minimal investment of time. Enhancing your personal brand will benefit you and your business. Watch your connections increase and your profile expand in just a few weeks and enjoy the professional benefits that follow as a result!

Tell us about a personal success story or strategy using LinkedIn to create connections in the comments below.

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Consumers think of email marketing as irrelevant and overbearing, taking up more than half of their inboxes. The metrics don’t support this perception, though!

With nearly 99 percent of people checking their email daily, brands are six times more likely to get a click-through from an email than a tweet. Similarly, 44 percent of users check their email for a deal from a company, while only 4 percent go to Facebook. With the new Facebook algorithms, which will probably move to Instagram before we know it, fewer fans will see your social media posts unless you pay to play. According to Campaign Monitor, email marketing has the highest return on investment (ROI) of digital marketing tactics. For every dollar spent, email marketing generates $44 in ROI.

Based on these facts alone, email marketing should play a fundamental role in your digital marketing strategy. Over a third of the worldwide population uses email, with nearly 80 percent of those users American. Businesses can use email to effectively communicate with their audiences by engaging with them on their home turf – their inboxes – and in various venues – home, phone, work, etc.

For successful email marketing, emails need to contain concise, relevant and actionable content. Every email provides an opportunity to build trust and resonate key messaging with the target audience. Grab the reader’s attention with great videos and photography, a catchy subject line and a distinct call-to-action.

Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival:

Kivelstadt Cellars:

Emails can generate immediate results. For example, if a tasting room is really slow on a rainy, cold winter day, developing an email with a tasting deal, special offer or impromptu party can help drive business. Target that email to your constituents within a 25-mile radius, individuals with the ability to take advantage of the offer.

The capability to accurately track results provides great value for email marketing. You can see how many people received the email, opened it and clicked through to the provided link. Even better, you can respond to these metrics and change your strategy if the results aren’t successful. Email marketing makes testing different messaging, distribution timing and subject lines easy and affordable. Lastly, you can repurpose your email marketing content on social media to garner new followers or email signups.

So, don’t abandon your email marketing strategy for social media. Drive engagement with relevant content targeted to segmented audience lists. Email is far from dead — it’s actually thriving! Try something new with your email marketing and comment with your results.

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With the Internet, technology, design and a host of other website-related factors constantly changing, so does the answer to, “What can I do to improve my website?” As it stands today, the keys to a successful website can be broken down into four main components — responsiveness, interactive design, architecture and visibility. As you dive into each of these components, take a look at your personal or business website to see where it could use some upgrades.

Having a good looking website will attract users initially, but making sure it functions well will keep them coming back. In the world of smartphones and tablets, making sure your website is responsive and mobile friendly, meaning the site is just as easy to use on mobile devices as it is on a desktop computer, is crucial. If your website doesn’t respond or function well on mobile devices, users have little incentive to stay on the site, and with technology continuing to improve and advance, a growing number of people use their mobile devices to browse the web. According to Statista, mobile devices accounted for 49.7 percent of web page views worldwide as of February 2017.

Incorporate movement into your website as a technique for catching the user’s eye and encouraging them to take a look around your website. While interactive elements take many forms, adding big, full-width videos, parallax scrolling — where background images are providing the illusion of depth when a user scrolls — and animation are at the top of the trendy website list add another level of interaction with the user. Keeping the user engaged will extend their stay on your website, leading them to learn more about what you have to offer.

Displaying the right information on your home page, such as call to action buttons and links to other pages, helps guide the user directly to the content they want. At a minimum, the most important information you should feature on your homepage includes details about you or your company, services you provide and contact information. You don’t want to overload the user the moment they visit your site with a lot of unnecessary content that could potentially confuse or mislead them. Smart architecture will give users what they need on the initial visit and more information as they become more familiar with your site.

So your website is responsive, has interactive elements and excellent architecture, but can your target audience find it? That’s where Search Engine Optimization comes in. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is key to getting your website to rise to the top of Google, Bing and other search engine results. Proper meta keywords, titles and descriptions relevant to your website content not only help define you or your business, but they help users easily find you.

As technology continues to advance and design trends continue to evolve, staying familiar with website terms and trends will help to ensure your website’s success. Think about your visitors when making or considering updates and how you can enhance their user experience.

For more information about user experience, stay tuned for an upcoming blog with everything you need to know. Are you planning on updating your website? Leave us a comment with your plans!

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We strive to empower our clients and audiences with knowledge and understanding of the work we do, whether it’s graphic design social media, video production or website development. The technical aspects of many of the areas we offer support can seem, frankly, overwhelming to some, which is why we’re breaking down our process. To help you better understand website production, let’s take a look at user experience.

A BRIEF OVERVIEW

The user experience (UX) looks at how people interact with a website in relation to the site’s overall functionality. It is the study of the who, what, why, where and when pertaining to websites, analyzing what the user sees and stands to gain when navigating a website. Focusing on creating a connection between the user and a website, a successful user experience evokes emotion and feeling that, without it, may come across as static and boring. A positive connection will, in-turn, make the user want to return over and over again.

When you think about website design, UX often takes a backseat to the design and development of a site, but the research and planning serve as the most important steps in the process. Without a good foundation, a site will not have a clear path to function and grow. The study of UX pushes site design further and allows for updates to functionality based on the users’ needs. Can you imagine trying to search for something on Amazon using the interface from 15 years ago? Industry experts study how people use the site to improve the UX over time so as users’ needs change, so does the site.

THE FIVE W’S OF USER EXPERIENCE

Taking the time to study UX early on in the site design process will make it easier to use and more likely have users remain on the site longer while also returning more often. Most sites can achieve these benefits by taking a closer look at the 5 W’s listed below:

Determine your audience through research

• Create employee or customer surveys to identify your existing audience
• Research analytics, if you already have a site, to see who visits the site
• Based on the survey feedback and analytics, create a user profile listing a fictitious person who would use the site, this allows the team to give a face to the audience

Focus on what is most important and design the site from there

• Build off of the information architecture and start by creating wireframes, blocking off areas of the site without actually designing it
• Adjust the hierarchy of the site to ensure the site flow leads users in the right direction

Create an information architecture and describe information placement

• If you have a current site, start by outlining the current structure so you can work on making it better
• Use a white board with sticky notes to easily move items around in real-time
• Add notes for specific page elements and visualize the layout

Build out a realistic timeline for when you want the site to go live

• Base your site’s launch around a new product release
• Stick to your deadline

Determine your goal for the site and the needs of the users

• Create a focus group to meet and brainstorm what you want users to get out of your site
• Use sticky notes to get ideas out quickly and narrow down a concept

Current website design trends create an easy-to-follow, almost templated user experience. But with creativity, research and planning, the possibilities of website design are practically endless. Follow the five W’s when planning your next website to put your site on the track to success.

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No matter the season, it’s always a good time for spring cleaning — whether it’s decluttering your desk or cleaning unnecessary files off of your computer. Tidy up using these tips from Senior Graphic Designer/Illustration Manager Eric Bach.

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Are you interested in learning how to change color in a picture so it blends perfectly? It takes a lot of skill to get it right, but Senior Graphic Designer/Internal Brand & Social Media Manager Jessy Weiss makes it look easy in the below tutorial. Check out Jessy’s guide to Adobe Photoshop and soon you’ll become a pro yourself.

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“Design is where science and art break even,” said Designer and Entrepreneur Robin Mathew. Most people don’t recognize a correlation between science, technology, engineering, and math as they relate to art, but at A. Bright Idea, we certainly do.

Digital Canvas

It might surprise you to know just how much technology goes into graphic design. Throughout a whole workday, technology gets used to establish creative to bring brands and advertisements to life. No longer solely centered around creating a piece of art, a graphic designer’s strategy now includes a focus on functionality and how their work will succeed in the digital world.

Users can now access online information via desktop, mobile or tablet surfaces. With a change in user experience comes a shift in design strategy. Responsive design, for example, involves creating a website to work on large horizontal desktops as well as a small portrait phone. Designers must keep this in mind during the development process to ensure any text, graphics or videos will function properly no matter the source.

By committing to life-long learning, designers and artists can smoothly transition as technology continues to evolve, thus becoming artistic and creative in a digital and technological sense.

Modern Paintbrush

Just as Leonardo da Vinci found common ground between science and art, so do contemporary graphic designers. A computer, in turn, becomes the paintbrush.

Technology provided the fuel for art to not only evolve but come to life with a direct purpose that integrates directly into everyday life. Whenever you see a logo for a company or a design on a website, you witness art in a digital form.

For the most part, graphic designers start out with a sketch of an idea before turning to technology to elevate it to the next level. Software suites, like Adobe Creative Cloud, allow graphic designers to easily transition from sketch to vector — digital images created by placing lines and shapes in a given two-dimensional space — arrange pages of a brochure or create custom animations. When designers use this software to enable creative freedom, the technological and artistic worlds collide.

Unexpected Inspiration

Creative inspiration can stem from anywhere. Designers use math and science for concept inspiration, as well as product execution. Math allows designers to create crisp and accurate graphics. Simple, yet important things like measuring out the sides of a brochure or making sure lines run precisely parallel to each other make designs as perfect and functional as possible. Designers also use math to scale images, convert units, write print specifications and develop dielines for printed projects.

Geometry acts as a building block for many different designs, such as creating icons and graphics to then use in making complete shapes. It seems like a simple concept, but designers more often than not use shapes to create a complete image, not free-hand drawings. For example, designers can create a light bulb through the use of geometry by setting various shapes at different angles and placements. This method requires a meticulous approach, bringing several different variables together to create an end product.

With so many variables to work through and consider, problem-solving becomes an essential part of a graphic designers’ process. When an engineer gets tasked with building a bridge, key components to consider include the quantity and cost of materials needed. Similarly, when designing a brochure, graphic designers also consider size and shape, materials, cost efficiencies and other variables to ensure a complete and functional final product.

Creativity and technology not only coexist but also produce groundbreaking ideas and outcomes. Art not only fits perfectly into science, technology, engineering and math, but creates a connection among all of them. Strategy and technicality have no limit when it comes to various industries. An engineer exudes the creativity of an artist, just as an artist emanates the innovation of an engineer.

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In the match up between vector and raster files, vector sizes up. Go step-by-step with Graphic Design Specialist Patrick Sedlander as he shows the result of scaling each file type for large format products.

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It’s a tale as old as time. Shoppers see a promotion for “joining the club” or getting those special “members-only” benefits and then before they know it, they have more memberships than they know what to do with. Then, after just one shipment, they cancel the membership altogether. How do you keep members around for the long-haul? For wine clubs, it starts with creating brand loyalty.

What’s in your shipment?
Make your members feel like it’s Christmas morning the day their shipment arrives. Leading up to delivery, build up the excitement through emails, social media and phone calls. Make each and every member feel special, as if they are your priority customer. Personalize your packaging by including a note or brief letter. Even better – toss in some extra swag. Think of your shipment as the one piece of mail people look forward to getting. Your club members should be thrilled to receive that big box!

Create brand ambassadors
Use your shipment as an opportunity to cultivate your audience. Include fun tips, tricks and recipes that will make your members want to tell their friends and family, and include a referral discount coupon for them to pass along when they do. Go beyond just delivering a product and include a DIY experience in each shipment that features the wines. For example, with the summer shipment of Sauvignon Blanc, include a dinner recipe that pairs with the wine. Toss in suggestions for table settings that match the label and your brand colors as well as some craft supplies with an instruction card on how to turn that wine bottle into a centerpiece. If a shipment has sparkling wine, include instructions on how to saber it. If you give your members something to talk about while enjoying the wine, they will.

Make members feel special
Communication is the key to any successful relationship. Communicate with your members more often than just notifying them of their shipment. Turn the purchase into a relationship. Send a birthday card or wine club anniversary card. Call them once they receive their shipment to answer questions about the wine. Engage with them on social media by liking their posts, commenting on their activities or creating conversations through a custom hashtag. In order for your members to feel that you care, you have to show them you do.

Do you have other methods for creating brand loyalty? We want to hear them! Tag us on Facebook or Twitter to let us know your tips.

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Outside of my career in advertising, I produce low budget horror movies, and believe it or not, there’s more similarities between the two than you might think.

Now, I’m not suggesting we put a bloody chainsaw in your ad for toothpaste, but if you can understand the psychology of how monster movies work for an audience, you can leverage those ideas to create some truly powerful marketing plans.

Here are three quick concepts to consider in future projects.

There you have it. Three quick lessons on how strategies in marketing and in horror movies share common goals that you can leverage for your next big idea.

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We hope you have grown to love our annual holiday wine roundup as much as we have. In preparation for all your parties and dinners, we pulled together a few recommendations to help you decide the perfect wine for your holiday toasts.

Follow these three rules when it comes to wine — keep it simple, drink what you like and most importantly, share with friends! There’s no need to be intimidated or worried if your bottle will be a good fit. A few good standbys will be the perfect addition to any holiday event.

Sparkling Wine — If you want to impress your friends, remember that all Champagne is sparkling wine, but all sparkling wine is not Champagne. Either way, Champagne, prosecco, cava or any California sparkling wine is a hit. You can’t go wrong with a good sparkling. It’s festive, fun and bubbly!

Riesling — This often-overlooked wine is crisp, refreshing and aromatic. Riesling is produced mostly in Germany and France’s Alsace region, but you can find some great domestic ones too. The versatility of a dry or semi-dry Riesling makes it a perfect pairing for salad, turkey, fish, roasted butternut squash or dessert.

Pinot Noir — Pinot Noir is a typical pairing with turkey, but it’s delicate flavors and light aromas go well with any grilled meat or poultry. We tend to favor Pinot Noirs from Russian River Valley AVA such as those produced by Walt Wines, but you can also find wonderful Pinot Noirs from Oregon.

Cabernet Sauvignon — You can’t forget this classic Bordeaux wine this season! Bold and rich, a great cab is perfect to warm you up on cold winter nights. Pair a Silver Oak, Far Niente or Joseph Phelps cab with filet mignon, beef tenderloin or a roast.

Dessert Wine — The wine pairings don’t end after your main course. Dessert wine can be a stand-alone dessert or paired with your favorite tasty sweet. Our picks include Joseph Phelps Eisrebe and Dolce by Far Niente.

Happy Thanksgiving from your friends at A. Bright Idea! Cheers!

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Web development speak can often sound like a foreign language to those outside of the industry, thus creating two types of people — those who understand these terms as written and those who envision actual chocolate chip cookies. Though these terms may sound funny and be understood differently, we assure you these definitions are real.

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For many, the first step into your industry-of-choice starts with an internship. In preparation for this “real world” introduction, take the following steps to earn your graphic design internship.

1. Research the company
2. Be yourself
3. Bring a portfolio
4. Talk through your process
5. Send a thank you note

After selecting companies you feel fit your creative spirit and career aspirations, pour your passion into crafting a perfect cover letter and resume, remain diligent about following up with prospective employers, answer every phone call and monitor email to ensure you don’t miss out on the opportunity for an interview. Then, after all the waiting — and let’s be honest, some stress — you receive the call offering an interview for the design internship of your dreams! So, what do you do now to prepare?

1. Research the company

Now that the interview is scheduled and placed on your calendar (hint, hint!), the first thing you should do is research the company, in detail, if you haven’t already. Read about how the company started, make note of the leadership, research their company culture, list of clients and portfolio of work. This initial step will help when the employer asks, and they will ask, “Why are you interested in a design internship with us?” You will demonstrate that you took the initiative to research and familiarize yourself with their company.

2. Be yourself

This one tops the list for any interview, but it’s true. Most people get a case of the nerves during any interview, so you are not alone if you feel anxious the day-of. Take a few deep breaths, try to stay relaxed and just be yourself. Employers want to see the real you. Not only do employers look to see if your skillsets are up to par, but they also take into consideration how you fit into their culture. Have personality during the interview and show the company why you’d be a great extension of their team.

3. Bring a portfolio

When interviewing for a graphic design internship, make sure you bring a professional and polished portfolio in digital and/or print versions. If you designed a website, bring an iPad or laptop with you to the interview so you can walk through the site — do not rely on the interviewer to supply the technology. If you designed a printed piece, bring a mock-up so you can talk through your design process from conception to implementation. An equally important second part to this step — take pride in your work. As you talk through your portfolio with the interviewer, speak with confidence about the things you created. Do not mention what you should have done or would have done. Talk about your pieces in a positive light and focus on things you did well in the execution, or how you solved the design problem.

4. Talk through your process

While your portfolio shows the interviewer the end-product of your creativity, it does not convey the story behind your creative genius. Start with explaining the project or assignment to show your understanding of the audience and design problem. Demonstrate your critical and design thinking by answering the following questions:

• What challenges did the project present and how did you solve them?
• Did you work within a budget or time constraints?
• What was your strategic approach?

As you explain, take ownership of the project and the design decisions you made along the way. Describe your purposeful design choices that influenced your decisions and the strategy behind them. Please know, graphic design professionals do not want to hear you did something “because it was pretty.”

5. Send a thank you note

After you make it through the interview — and, you will definitely make it through — be sure to send a thank you note to the interviewers. This may seem like an outdated gesture, but a handwritten thank you note speaks volumes. Take the opportunity to thank them once again for their time and consideration and to express your interest in interning with their company. Not to mention, it will help you stay fresh in their minds as they make their decision.

Making the best impression during your interview requires preparation. While you’re there to try and land an internship, you could also be speaking with your future full-time employer. Take the necessary steps to impress before and after the interview, and always remember to be yourself.

Stay connected with A. Bright Idea by checking the careers section on our website for any future employment or internship opportunities.

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There’s a lot more to media relations than having a great story. You may know what you want to say, but if you don’t know how to say it or who to say it to, then your pitch will turn into a swing and a miss.

Like all communication tactics, media relations requires strategy. No matter how much the industry continues to evolve, these 5 fundamentals will always remain the same.

1. Keep the audience front of mind

Whether pitching about a product or person, an innovation or an accomplishment, think about the pitch from the audience’s perspective. You have to consider media outlets and the readers, listeners or viewers of those outlets as your audiences. The pitch must deliver exciting, useful information or a unique story for media outlets to share with their audiences. If the product or story doesn’t appeal to the outlet’s audience, it’s not going to appeal to the outlet.

2. Spend time reading, listening and watching

Spend the time to read, listen to and watch your targeted media outlets. Know who they talk to and how to create a pitch customized for their target audience. The time spent researching on the front-end will save you from wasting time sending pitches to the wrong outlets and contacts. Better your chances of breaking through the clutter by sending a pitch that’s spot on.

3. Pitch with a purpose

A pitch should answer two questions — why would the media have interest in this story and why is this story better than the other 500 pitches the outlet received that week? Until you can confidently answer both questions, the pitch is not ready. Before you begin crafting your pitch, ask yourself — how will/can the news or product you’re pitching affect the audience? How will they benefit? If the story has no legs, media reps will not only delete your email, but will more than likely also delete future emails you send.

4. Build, then foster, relationships

It’s all about connections and relationships. In order for media reps (writers, reporters, producers) to want to share your story, they must first like, respect and trust you. Securing and strengthening these relationships will come from pitching newsworthy stories and only newsworthy stories. If an outlet is looking for a particular story or expert that you can’t provide, but you know someone who can, let the reporter know. Not only will the reporter remember you, but the person you recommend may return the favor the next time.

5. Be realistic. Be patient.

Timing is everything. You have to consider the timing for the outlet and the reporter, but you also need to have a keen awareness of the trending news cycle. The topic du jour could help or hurt your pitch efforts. Stay the course and wait for your opportunity. Your story must stand out and be relevant to stick. Of course, if no one bites on your first attempt, that’s normal. A reporter you pitched today may call you back months later because the time is finally right.

Looking for more tips on successful media relations? Ask us your questions by tagging us on Facebook and Twitter.

The post The art of media relations: Pitching with purpose and patience appeared first on A. Bright Idea.

What is a brand?

When you hear the word “brand,” most people immediately think logo. Your brand is more than a logo – it’s who you are, how you are viewed by consumers and those consumers’ experience your company. It provides an anchor from which to set customer expectations and communicate your message clearly to your audience. If consumers couldn’t see your logo on a marketing material, would they still know who it’s coming from?

Part of what makes a strong brand is its voice, which consumers should recognize and identify immediately. The brand voice is not just what you say, it’s the attitude, personality and look and feel of your company.

Look at Lagunitas Brewery’s About Us page on their website states:

This is an about page for a brewery and for a beer, or whatever. We guess that it speaks to the idea of whatever people want to think we are or aren’t or should or shouldn’t be but, after all, it’s just about trying to sift through the incessant nonsensical mumble of it all. An then there’s you, oh noble visitor, trying to interpret it all. What about us? Here are some words: spackle, crane crepuscular. Do they mean any? Sure. Is it relevant? Mumbles, mostly blather in a wasted attempt of how we came to be, but no one reads anymore right? At least, except for You. ThankYouVeryMuch.

No, we didn’t bold those words for emphasis – they’re actually highlighted on their site. Notice the tone, voice and attitude in this passage. This exemplifies Lagunitas’ quirky, laid-back, fun brand, even without seeing the logo and tagline – Beer Speaks, People Mumble.

How do you create your brand?

Creating your brand begins with discovering who you are, what feelings you want to elicit when people experience your brand and how you want to position the company within the market. This is done by determining your brand attributes, which represent the core values of the company. These key themes represent the essence of the brand and clearly describe aspects and qualities of the organization. Ask yourself these questions to get started in creating your brand attributes:

• What are the defining qualities of your business, its mission and team?
• What’s special about your products or services? What sets you apart from your competitors?
• What’s unique about the way you do business?
• What is distinctive about your company culture and talent?
• How do you want to be regarded by your customers and community?
• What values do you find important and want all staff to live and breathe?

Answering these questions will help develop your brand promise. This is a simple one- or two-sentence statement that describes your organization’s essence and purpose. This is similar to your elevator speech that allows you and your employees to internalize and communicate your brand in a similar way. Everyone will speak from the same page with a similar message. The goal is to express your beliefs and your intention toward the customer experience in a concise and meaningful way. The brand promise is not a tagline, but a statement of your value and promise to the consumer. You shouldn’t have to communicate this directly to consumers, they should feel and experience it in all that you do.

Putting it all together

Now that you have your attributes and promise, put it all together to create your brand.

The Promise – What you as an organization promise to deliver to your customers
The Experience – What your customers can expect when they interact with you
Identity – The logo, color palette, look and feel, and imagery
Value Added – The cherry on top when you get your engaged customers to serve as brand champions

Look at L.L. Bean, the family-friendly outdoor clothing/activity retailer, as an example.

The Promise – “At L.L. Bean, we design products that make it easier for families of all kinds to spend time outside together. Join us and Be an Outsider.”
The Experience – Exceptional customer service, lifetime returns
Identity – Recognizable logo, brand essence and imagery; “Be an Outsider”
Value Added – Customers promote products and the brand via social media

What does this mean for you?

Your brand should be reflected in everything your company does, including:

• Leadership/Staff – actions, language, uniforms, etc.
• Collateral – Packaging, brochures, business cards, swag, menus, etc.
• In-store experience
• Digital presence – website, email communications, social media, etc.
• Advertisements

Establishing your brand is a fundamental step in achieving your business goals. A strong brand infused into all parts of your company means every customer, no matter who they talk to or what they see, will have a consistent and exemplary experience; therefore, creating brand loyalty and repeat customers. Your brand promotes recognition, sets you apart from your competitors, helps customers know what to expect and is an overall representation of you.

Now that you have your company brand covered, what does your personal brand say about you? We’ll let you know in our upcoming blog.

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Like others, we were ready to pack up for the beach, fire up the grill and break out the frisbee for this Memorial Day weekend.

For most Americans, the holiday unofficially kicks off the summer season and the bliss that comes with it. But in that rush towards all things “fun in the sun,” we also intend to take a moment to remember the reason for the holiday.

Memorial Day – firstly known as Decoration Day – began in 1868 with Union veterans and the families of the honored dead paying their respects at cemeteries. Often confused with Veterans Day, Memorial Day is solely dedicated to those who died in the nation’s defense. It commemorates those who gave “the last full measure of devotion,” as President Lincoln eloquently described in the Gettysburg Address at the Gettysburg cemetery in Pennsylvania.

For our clients at Fort Detrick and Aberdeen Proving Ground, their Memorial Day ceremonies are held with an understanding of the long line of sacrifices that stretches throughout our nation’s history. Aberdeen Proving Ground’s memorial monument at Festival Park even includes a quote from Lincoln’s address in its dedication, stating:

“This monument stands as a tribute to the Department of Defense civilians, military service members and support contractors of Aberdeen Proving Ground and the former Edgewood Arsenal…we honor their lives and their contributions to our national defense. Each gave the last full measure of devotion while performing their duties.”

At Memorial Day ceremonies, it is tradition to take a moment of silence in remembrance of our fallen heroes – a tradition that began during World War II. At that time, newspaper columnist Ernie Pyle covered stories of life on the ground with the infantry, painting vivid pictures with his words. His most famous column chronicled the death of Captain Waskow and the heartbreak soldiers experienced when faced with the deaths of their comrades.

Pyle described how during a hard stretch of fighting in the Italian mountains, the Army hired Italian muleskinners to carry the bodies of fallen Americans down the mountainside to a collection point at the bottom where Pyle waited with other soldiers. Friends of the deceased took an opportunity during a break in the fighting to see their fallen comrades.

“Then the first man squatted down, and he reached down and took the dead hand [of Captain Waskow], and he sat there for a full five minutes, holding the dead hand in his own and looking intently into the dead face, and he never uttered a sound all the time he sat there. And finally he put the hand down, and then reached up and gently straightened the points of the captain’s shirt collar, and then he sort of rearranged the tattered edges of his uniform around the wound. And then he got up and walked away down the road in the moonlight, all alone.”

We cannot truly honor those soldiers, like Captain Waskow, who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country, because their actions honor them far beyond what we are capable. We can only pay our respects for what they gave to our nation.

We can and should enjoy our Memorial Day weekend, but we should also give pause to remember and thank those for their sacrifice. For that moment of silence speaks volumes.

The post The eloquence of silence on Memorial Day appeared first on A. Bright Idea.

Now more than ever, businesses use social media to promote and build trust in their brand, reach new customers, provide customer service and sell products. Individuals use social media to consume and share content, both written form (like this blog…please share it btw) and visual form, interact with friends, family and brands, meet new people and in some cases, build their personal brand.

There are a lot of fish in the social media sea, so it’s important to leverage channels like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter to expand your business’s audience. That starts with having a strategy in place and a path forward. Here are three tips to really harness social media for everything you can:

1. Make the Most of Your Content

2. Engage with Others

3. Be Authentic

In each tip, I’ll also give some actionable takeaways for you to use right away. Let’s get started.

At the basic level, social media is free and even when it’s not free, it’s arguably the most cost-effective way to promote your brand. A consistent presence on social media allows a brand to reach people at all times of day, every day of the week.

Every business and personal brand fights for attention online so if you want to stand out from the crowd, you need effective content with a long shelf life. In other words, take whatever you’re doing and make it go further. Develop a strategy specifically catered to your piece of content that will help leverage its reach on social media.

ACTION ITEM: Think of your brand, your story, your products. Come up with a big story to tell people about your brand. Tell the story of one of your best products. Try developing that story into a written piece of content or a video. From there you can do a lot of things to squeeze as much of that juice as possible out of that big piece of content. Here’s a quick reference list:

• Break content into smaller pieces to share on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter as separate posts.
• Create graphics for each smaller piece of content using a free software like Canva. Let the images do the talking. Shares are a great metric to measure on social and these are super-shareable on Instagram stories and Twitter.
• Tell your stories in 15-second clips on Instagram Stories. To up the authenticity factor, use your phone to record and post (more on being authentic later).
• Break videos into shorter vignettes and post to all channels.
• Create a list of hashtags to use on Instagram and Twitter to help expand the reach each time you post. However, beware of banned Instagram hashtags that can downgrade your posts.

One of the easiest ways to ensure audiences know you’re legit is to talk to them. Talk to them as if they just walked in to your branch, as if they are next in line at your deli counter or if they just took a seat at your bar.

We all know social media is a communication tool. We communicate everything, the best and worst moments in our lives. But for a lot of businesses, they post content for the day and forget about it, only coming back to post more the following day, never taking the time to take their communication efforts a step further.

That’s the short game, it’s fairly easy and doesn’t take much time. But if you’re trying to build a brand using social media, play the long game. Post your content but also take time to comment, answer questions, pose follow up questions and say thanks. In fact, if you really want to measure how well any one post is doing on Facebook, for instance, see how many comments it received. At this point in the history of social, meaningful engagements are more valuable than the likes anyways.

ACTION ITEM: Talk to people using social media. By either starting conversations around a product or trend or carrying on the conversation based on comments you see from your audience, taking the time to talk to people will pay off in the long run. Here are a few things your business or brand can do to engage more with others.

• Respond to comments on posts. In a world of people waiting to speak, it’s nice to know some people are taking the time to listen.
• Search hashtags relevant to your brand and like/comment on posts of others.
• Use the ‘ask a question’ feature on Instagram stories. Create a story the day after, answering some of the questions.
• Retweet relevant content your audience might like on Twitter.
• Share content that is meaningful to your audiences; don’t always be self-serving.

They can smell it, inauthenticity. It stinks and most people using social today recognize it quickly and move on.

Authenticity also falls in line with engaging others and can lead to increased attention for your brand.

Authenticity is #winning in 2019 and will trend that way for the foreseeable future. Why? Because in a world of fake news, fake accounts, fake lives, chatbots, AI and more, people yearn for authenticity. Dwayne Johnson, aka “The Rock,” wins on Instagram not simply for his rugged good looks but because he talks to his fans and lets them peek behind the curtain, just a bit, which keeps fans super engaged.

ACTION ITEM: “You do you” is a good mantra for this tip. Being authentic means being yourself and making sure your brand is represented well on social, so when a customer walks through the door, they know exactly who they are doing business with and what experience they can expect from you. Here are a few things to try to be more authentic.

• Share in-the-moment photos of your products, your store, your employees and even your customers using Facebook and Instagram stories. Tell your audience about everything that makes your brand special.
• Instead of always talking to people through text posts, use video. Don’t be afraid to use video, live or pre-recorded, straight from your phone, to say hi, tell people about a promotion they should check out, explain a product or even tease a new Try video content on LinkedIn. The platform has the capability, but not many people leverage video there yet. You should.
• Share user-generated content. If someone posts about your product, at your location or mentions you on their feed, tell people about it! Consumers trust other consumers who trust you.

Conclusion

If you’ve made it this far, you must really be serious about making changes to how you’re leveraging social media this year, which is awesome! Each of the tips I covered are important, but they don’t all have to be done at the same time if that’s not possible for your business.

Before you make any moves to implement these strategies, empty the dishwasher, wash the car or do whatever it is that produces your best pondering, wondering, thinking cap. Consider your goals, audience, brand, core values and everything in between to help you decide what you’re going to tackle first and the strategy you’ll employ.

If you still have questions about any of the strategies covered in this article, I encourage you to start practicing good social media by reaching out to us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. We’re here to help!

The post Strategies for navigating in a sea of social media appeared first on A. Bright Idea.

Creativity doesn’t have to be elaborate or flashy, and it doesn’t have to be reserved for the “creatives” alone. Low-key creativity is the effortless, no-pressure strategy to get your brain working in an imaginative way with others.

Creativity doesn’t start in an email
Get those creative juices flowing with face-to-face interaction! The key to a collaborative environment is getting to know your coworkers on a personal level, away from the computer screen. Try kicking off a meeting with a quick creative exercise and have everyone share their piece with the team. Not only will this bring everyone some laughs, but it will start the meeting with high energy, ready to jump into a productive meeting.

Here’s an exercise our team tried in a recent meeting:
Each participant has a piece of paper with 30 blank circles on it and a pencil. Team members are challenged to fill in as many circles as possible in only three minutes. The aim being quantity, not quality.

Culture of creativity
Give every team member every creative opportunity and constantly promote a positive work environment and culture. Providing a creative and unique work space can improve company morale, and science shows that positive moods tend to promote those “a-ha” moments. So, bring a whiteboard and handful of candy to your next meeting (this always works for us).

Encouraging creativity doesn’t stop with our Bright Lights – we challenge you to complete the 30 circles exercise with your team and tag us on Facebook or Twitter with the photos. We can’t wait to see where their imagination takes them!

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