Graphic Design

Our Facebook profile picture. When you use your logo as your profile picture, be sure it fits the dimensions properly. Check the way your icon looks on your mobile device as well.  You don't want half of your logo cut off in the thumbnail version of your icon. Top Shelf Media had this problem, until we designed this new image. 

Below is the artwork for a postcard we designed to promote our Facebook contest! Please enter if you haven't already. We would love for you to win, plus you will get to see the artwork we used for the online portion of the sweepstakes!

Here are two cover photos that were designed for the new Facebook Timeline for Business Pages. The first is for Scarlet's Garden Artistry, a small business in South Florida who hand crafts all sorts of paper goods. The second is a cover photo designed for Top Shelf Media. We plan to use it until the contest is over, and then switch it out to coincide with the artwork for our next contest. We always use our logo on everything we do to make sure we stay within our branding. Each contest we have will be branded, as well as every ad campaign. Notice on our Facebook Page that the cover photo, "Contests" tab, and artwork for the sweeps all use the same colors and splashes.

  I love this ad we have designed. Still trying to work out where to place it, though I'm thinking the back of a white T-Shirt. It is not a working QR code! So, don't scan me, when you see me around town in it. I just wanted a conversation starter, that promoted my social media services.
Below is a "Just for Fun" image I created after being inspired by Mad Men and The Pitch on AMC last Sunday. Why should the boys get all the credit?

Brand Your Business

Good branding is one of the most important things you can do for your business. Your brand identity sets you apart from your competition, conveys key business attributes, and can help you establish your reputation. Great branding takes a lot of research and professional designers. It can be a long process, but creating your brand's identity can make or break your business, because first impressions are everything.
Here are 5 reasons why you should spend the time and money on great branding:
1. Branding helps set you apart from your competitors. This is rewarding when trying to set yourself apart from generic products as well as other brands. Your brand should boast quality, over generic products. In the event of some bad PR on your competitor's end, your brand identity will separate you from the incident, whether it be a faulty product or lousy customer service.
2. Branding will promote customer loyalty. Good experiences with your brand will ensure repeat customers and referrals. People will remember your brand, and that builds trust.
3. Strong brands make it easier to introduce new products and services. Once you establish your brand, and it has credibility and trust, you can launch a new product or service and expect your customers not to hesitate to try them. Many well known brands have been able to enter new industries because of the trust customers have with the brand.
4. Branding is essential for recall. With a strong brand identity, people will remember your product and service. Without good branding, your advertising efforts may be wasted. Good branding will ensure that your customers will not only remember clever commercial, but also your product. Your brand should remain consistent through everything you do.
5. Use your brand to communicate with your customers. Good, consistent branding can communicate your business's core values, principles, message, and characteristics.

Be sure to work with professionals when branding your business. Top Shelf Media can help you develop your brand identity. We will interview you to get a feel for your existing brand (if you have one) and what it is you want you brand to convey. Then we'll do research on your industry, your local area, target market and competitors. Then we'll design your logo, business cards, stationary, packaging, advertising, website, and promotional items around your brand identity.

Most importantly, make sure your brand is visual, distinguishable, and consistent.

Top Shelf Media's First Giveaway

Just a quick post to let everyone know about Top Shelf Media's first ever sweepstakes. I'm very excited to be giving away a custom designed cover photo to one lucky business for their Facebook Timeline. To enter, you will need to go to our Facebook Page and click on the Contests tab. You can get all the details for entering right there! Good luck!

Why You need Social Media

We are talking about social media, again. Because we love it! It is so amazing that we can connect world-wide with people, and not through our standard websites. We can talk, we can relate, we can really know our customers. And, it's really all about knowing our customers. Often I struggle to understand why some businesses are still not embracing the relationship they could have with their clients. It certainly is a commitment, and it takes research, and persistence. While Top Shelf Media 

offers services in all areas of marketing, advertising and public relations, we specialize in, social media, so forgive us if we tend to focus on the subject. But it's really that important!

Watch this video by Socialnomics. It will establish some very clear reasons why you need to incorporate social media into your business culture. Its pretty powerful.

It also features several funny anecdotes, great graphics, and good mood music.  Its pretty powerful.

 

When meeting with clients, what I hear most about why they aren't handling their social media accounts is that they don't have the time or staff to maintain their accounts. If you aren't the most tech-savvy business owner, or are just uninterested in social media personally, I can see why the you might struggle to justify spending your own time to learn about this ever changing subject. If you don't have the luxury of an internal marketing department at your disposal, consider hiring an outside company to create your social media campaigns for you.  Top Shelf Media

offers several different social media management options, and customizes those options for our clients to fit every budget. 

The most important thing is to create your social media strategy around your audience. It's about creating a personal relationship with your customers. You need to find subtle ways to sell your products and services. Offer up examples of your work in photos on your Timeline, but don't use a call to action. Just display it with pride in your work, let the example do the selling for you. Talk about your local community. Share stories and photos from other local business pages. Remember, social media is not about your business, it's about people.

Timeline for Facebook Fan Pages

Are you ready for the new Facebook Timeline for your Fan Page? Gear up, because March 30 you are going to see some big changes. You'll notice that all the changes mentioned here are in support of Facebook's goal to create a more personal, organic experience for the user. Here are the top items, I took away from the webinar I attended last week.

1. Cover Photo: Just like with your new profile timeline, your fan page will have a huge cover photo! This is an excellent way to brand your business. There are some rules about what you can place as your cover photo...No "Like Me" gimmicks, no contact info, no discounts/promotions, and it needs to be primarily graphic. Pick a photo that identifies with your brand. Have a graphic designer create a piece of art for you. Change the cover photo to run with current campaigns, or over time as your business evolves. Make it memorable, because as the user scrolls down, the branding "disappears" and you and left with only your profile picture visible. Make sure your profile picture is attention getting as well.

2. About Section: Right below the cover photo, your About section is prime real estate on your timeline. Include a short, but fantastic reason get your user to explore your page!

3. Pin Posts, Milestones, and Stars: Post pinning is a great tool to use to draw attention to specific information such as sales and special events. A status update can be "pinned" to the top of your timeline for up to 7 days, so no re-posting of the same event is required. Milestones can be added to highlight special events in your business history. Your company's founding, first license, or a million dollars in sales, can be pegged as a milestone on your timeline.  Star a post you want to draw attention to it. Starring the post will expand it to go across the entire width of the timeline.

4. Tabs: Located in the About section, all tabs are customizable with the ability to change the position,  photo and name, except the "photos" tab  which remains constant in position. Only the first three tabs are visible before the user needs to use a drop-down menu to access the rest. Position your tabs strategically, as to draw attention to the most important ones, such as a contest or promotion. One last note on tabs. Under the new guidelines, the timeline is the landing page. You can no longer force fans to land on your custom apps, like a welcome page (unless you buy a Facebook ad, and you link the ad to the custom app...but that's a whole different blog post.) Don't worry, your custom apps will still work the same, you can still have a "forced" like on custom apps, but you will need to find a creative way to get the user to it. What does that mean? You better have some great content on your timeline.

5. Administrative features: There is a new admin panel that is much more user friendly, and you will have a lot more control over your page. For example, you determine where your recent activity such as posts from your fans are placed. Your options are either placed sporadically throughout your timeline, or in it's own custom box. I like the box! You have the option to moderate all fan posts before they are published. Your fans can message you directly. Keep in mind that you cannot contact fans, but can respond to them up to two times if they message you first.

6. Competitive analysis: This is part of the administrative features, but a big enough deal to get it's own number! With the new timeline, you will be able to view any fan page analysis. It will give you information on when the page had a lot of interaction, when it drops off, etc. in graph form. What can you do with this information? Use the easy to navigate timeline to go directly to the day that fan page had a significant amount of interaction, and find out what they posted! This is fantastic! Using this tool to its compete potential enable see what your competitor's are doing to increase their fan base, and improve your strategy. Keep in mind, that it's a two way street, and the competition can be checking you out as well.

Another noteworthy tidbit: Anyone who comes to your Facebook page will now see how many of their friends are fans. This will make the experience different for everyone. More personal. Less commercial. This is a good thing! There will also be a lot of changes for advertisers, but unless you have Facebook advertising budget of around 25K a month, it really wont' affect you.

Don't despair; embrace the changes. Use the new tools to your advantage. Implement a strategy and keep posting. If you post it, they will come.  

Multi-Chamber Business Expo

Yesterday, for the fifth year running, the Greater Fort Walton Beach, Destin Area, Crestview Area, Niceville and Valparaiso Chambers of Commerce joined forces to bring their members the biggest and best marketing and networking opportunity in all the Emerald Coast...The Multi-Chamber Business Expo and Taste of Okaloosa County. The event was held at the Emerald Coast Convention Center on Beautiful Okaloosa Island. Naturally, Top Shelf Media was there to scope it out.

Our Mission: Find some fabulous promotional items, booth designs, and marketing collateral. And, if we get to network with area businesses and sample some goodies along the way, so be it.

Trade shows and business expos can be a great way to get your business exposure, especially if you do them right. Three aspects of trade shows will get people coming to your booth: spectacular design, free stuff, and well, the chance to win more free stuff. Once you draw them in, work your magic and make connections.  

Develop promotional products people will use, or will set you apart, and put your branding on it. I have a promotional magnetic notepad from many years ago that is still lingering on the fridge. If you can give away a product that is related to your industry, do it! A winery could give away bottle stoppers or corkscrews. A landscaper could give away packets of seeds with their branding on it. The possibilities are endless. Be creative and try to stand out from the crowd, and don’t underestimate the power of great packaging.

Collect customer information by hosting a sweepstakes. Give away something good! At the Multi-Chamber Business Expo, I registered to win an iPod Shuffle courtesy of Century Link.

 For a dollar donation to Horizons Foundation I was registered into a drawing for this Mustang. Pretty bad ass. Let’s hope this is parked in my driveway at the end of April when the drawing will be held. 

Booth design is equally important. An out of the box display will surely have people stopping by your booth. This was my favorite at the Multi-Chamber Expo. Bad Girls Art Gallery in Fort Walton Beach created an exiting display featuring pieces of art available in their gallery. They made the most of it by offering these items for sale at the expo.

The Emerald Grande had a nice display that captured the essence of the Emerald Coast.

At The Emerald Grande booth, we enjoyed mini cupcakes by Stacy-Cakes, decorated to compliment the display. The Stacy-Cakes business cards featured here were equally as impressive as her baking!

Be sure to use professionally printed marketing materials. It will be an investment, but please no home copies! Looking polished and professional will certainly increase buyer confidence. 

Hello! Welcome to the Top Shelf Media blog. We’ll be posting weekly to bring you fun, helpful, and inspiring entries about the ever versatile world of promoting your business. Maybe you own a business, and thus far your marketing efforts have been fruitless. Maybe you feel overwhelmed by the idea of creating a marketing plan and budget, and sticking to it! Or maybe, you just want to get some new ideas, tips & tricks, strategies, and see some beautiful designs. In any case, you’ve found the right place. We draw inspiration from many sources, and are aiming to bring you relevant content and stunning visuals.

So, first things, first. What is marketing? How does it differ from advertising? I find that not many people know there is difference. There are hundreds of books dedicated to defining marketing. Dare I try to define it in a single sentence? It is certain to be a very long run on sentence, so I’ll write a few instead. Marketing encompasses all business activities involved in bringing value to the customer in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders. It involves managing customer relationships and business stakeholders. Marketing is a science! A science about people. It involves demography, psychology, sociology, anthropology...and it goes on and on. The good news(for me at least), is that there is plenty of creativity involved in the marketing world.

The Marketing mix revolves around “The 4 P’s” Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.

Product: How do we deliver value to our customers with our products? We meet a need or want. We offer a solution to their problem.

Price: Our product needs to be placed at the right price point. Besides needing to make a profit, we need to know what our customer is willing to pay for the product. 

Place: This refers to distribution. How are we going to get the product to market? We need to offer easy access of our product to our customer.

Promotion: This is the good stuff! This is getting information to our customers. We do this through advertising, social media, public relations, and special events.

Whew. From here on out, I’ll be focusing on promotion. I want to answer these questions: How can we boost your business, increase awareness, and create a buzz?