Author: Brian Lee

The logo creation process

Posted on by Brian Lee

Creating a logo for a product or brand is not easy, but there’s no reason for it to be more difficult than it should.

The meticulous process of logo creation is time consuming with the end goal of creating something that sparks brand recognition. Following the steps provided below should mitigate some potential challenges, resulting in an easier process of creating a unique logo that meets the client’s needs.

  1. Research the Company. Prior to meeting with your client, make sure to research everything about the company, including how it currently brands itself (if at all) and past logos. Understanding the changes it made in past logos will help you know what elements to stay away from when creating the new logo.
  2. Meet with the Client. It’s important to understand their mission statement and what the company stands for. Understanding what they want to get out of their new logo is also important. Sometimes their vision isn’t clear, so make sure to ask a lot of questions to guide them along.
  3. Research Ideas. Before you start designing, see what other companies in the same industry have done. You’d hate to design a logo, only to see that you inadvertently created something similar to a competitor’s logo.
  4. Design Elements. Key design elements to keep in mind when designing your logo are good use of balance, clever use of color, creative recognition and a design style that suits the company.  Another key element in design is your typography. Commonly used fonts do not stand out. You also need to make sure you choose a font that matches the company’s style, and one that is legible in different scales.
  5. Get Feedback. Before taking your samples to your client, try to get a couple other sets of eyes on your designs.  Ask co-workers, art directors or friends to get opinions. By working on the same logos for a certain period of time, you may miss something that someone else may see.
  6. Present samples to client. Creating 2-3 versions helps your client compare and contrast, but don’t give them more, as too many options can be overwhelming.
  7. Re-work based on feedback. There will most certainly be changes to your design based on what the client wants. Be prepared to rework your designs based on their feedback. In part, sometimes it’s because a group of people analyzing your designs don’t agree with one another and want a whole new design (known as “death by committee”). This is more likely to occur. If you’re lucky, you may only have to switch a few things, like fonts or color. Understanding the client’s feedback when re-working designs will reduce the chances of never-ending revisions.

How to organize a conference in 2014

Posted on by Brian Lee

Hosting a conference in today’s modern times can seem daunting, but with ample planning and attention to simple details, you can succeed in organizing, marketing and executing your event.

While your main form of promotion for the conference may be brochures, mailers and social media, consider creating a standalone website, which allows you to tailor the site to the event theme and thus strengthen branding. If it is a recurring event, keep the site active year round and post updates and news. A standalone event website can also increase your SEO, especially if you provide a banner or links to the event site on your main web page.

For registration, use an online registration tool such as Eventbrite, which provides easy ticket and event management. The built-in analytics allow you to track which promotional efforts are directing the most traffic to the registration site. For day-of registration, use a tool such as Square, which can be connected to any smartphone or tablet to take credit card payments. Have an attendee list ready, which can be provided by Eventbrite, and make name badges using Eventbrite’s name badge tool. Bring a label maker so you can print name tags on the spot for those who register at the door (and so they don’t have to use handwritten name tags).

One crucial aspect of both the promotion and execution stages of your conference is creating a hashtag to represent your conference – something easy to remember and type. This will allow attendees as well as people not at the conference to follow along and virtually connect with one another. It will also help your event to be searchable and visible on social media platforms, creating a simple way to share updates and track feedback and opinions on the conference. Throughout the conference, remind people through signage and slides to use the conference’s hashtag with their tweets, Facebook posts and other social media updates. Set up a scrolling screen to display tweets with the conference hashtag.

At the conference, make sure you have free (and fast!) Wi-Fi. Your Wi-Fi should be designed to accommodate the maximum device load at any given time; plan for each attendee to bring at least two devices (laptop and smartphone). With this number in mind, you may want to set up more than one network depending on the number of attendees. Think one high-quality network for every 150-200 attendees. You also need to make sure you have plenty of power strips – line them up at every table and have extras ready for the attendees who need to charge up their devices during sessions or workshops. This may seem like a small detail, but the convenience of charging will make a huge difference to attendees.

One final thing to keep in mind is a follow-up survey or evaluation. Platforms such as Survey Monkey allow users to easily set up and send out an email survey to lists or groups of people. Use these surveys to get feedback from your attendees on what they liked or didn’t like, what they learned and things they would change. Listening to feedback and implementing changes can add to your success for your next conference.

The next level of social media interaction

Posted on by Brian Lee

Customer interaction through social media platforms gives users a greater sense of connection with the company. Whether it be through social media contests, answering questions or a simple shout-out, people thrive for these types of social interactions. According to a recent study by the market-research firm Ipsos, 52 percent of consumers are motivated to stay connected with a brand by contests.

Taco Bell’s recent ‘Breakfast Phone’ campaign is a great example. The fast food chain sent 1,000 highly influential Twitter users “Breakfast Phones” (see photos and a story) to utilize in Taco Bell’s social media contests. The Samsung T404G phones received calls and text messages that gave directions for the next social media challenge for a chance to win prizes.

These social media challenges were a way for Taco Bell to start promoting its new breakfast menu on Twitter.  The influencers in turn spread the word and generated a lot of buzz on social media hyping up the new menu.

Challenges included answering a question, posting a picture, sharing a Taco Bell related meme, etc. on social networks using the companies-related hashtags.  For every challenge, a select few phone holders were selected to win prizes.

Taco Bell truly engaged with their social media followers to make the contest fun and personal.  The selected phone users were consistantly being involved in the Taco Bell brand, which made them fans of the whole campaign.

Social Media Contests for Marketing

  1. Know What’s Popular. The type of social media contests that work well are the ones that are constantly changing.  Do your research and then tailor your contest accordingly.
  2. Stick to Your Guns. Will this campaign benefit your brand? If the answer is yes, it is important to know what your brand is aiming to achieve from the contest.  Don’t get lost in the end goal you set at the beginning of the process.
  3. Research Your Social Media Influencers. Taco Bell didn’t just pick 1,000 random Twitter users, it strategically chose 1,000 Twitter users who have a big following. Why target 10,000 people when you can target 10 people who each have 1,000 followers?