Using more than one marketing channel to promote a brand has been around since the first newspaper was published. Old school marketing included yellow pages, newspaper, radio, TV, magazines, POP, direct mail, cold-calling, sponsorships, and tradeshows. Amazing when you realize that these are still in use today. Some of these techniques don't work for every brand or company, but every successful brand uses more than 2 of these to reach their target audience along with a company website.

Every year the weather for Artscape, in Baltimore, is either super hot or raining. This year there was a little rain and it was super hot. As I walked around Artscape this Sunday, I noticed some people brought their dogs. I wondered how the dogs could walk on the scorching pavement. It was so hot you couldn't sit on benches or curbs. One pup hid under a food vendors truck, refusing to leave the shade it offered.

There's a reason that people are fascinated with lists:

Before you think about manufacturing and retail package design, qualifying that there is interest in buying your product should first be tackled. Recently I attended a Meet Up event at DAP Headquarters. It was a fantastic presentation about product development. The title of the meeting was "Concept to Product". That title intrigued me to encourage 2 other associates to attend with me. For more than 20 years, I have worked with clients who develop and launch new products. I hoped for some unique insight from the client side that would be beneficial to my Entrepreneurial clients. I was not disappointed.

Why is it some stores and companies can charge more? Convenience? Sometimes. Best of the best in product or service? Sometimes. Consider Starbucks. Some people think it is the best - their preferred brand and taste. Brand loyalty whether it is for the prestige it elicites or personal taste preference drives in repeat customers.

Quick -- You have 2 seconds to tell me what you do, 2 seconds to make it relevant to me, and 2 seconds to keep me interested. Repeat process until I leave your page.

Before You Begin The Design Process.

There are almost as many ways that a web redesign can hurt you as can help you. Before you start to rework your website, make sure you have a back-up copy of your complete website. It's almost a given that you will likely be reusing some graphic elements and content. Why recreate the wheel if you can just update it? Organizing your current content and creating a back-up will save a lot of time and headaches.