Marketing Resources: Graphic Design

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  Four Ways to Optimize Your Email's Call to Action

  Graphic Design

  Even when elements of your email campaigns deliver strong results, there's always a chance you can do better. Consider the case of a tried-and-true call-to-action (CTA) button used by HubSpot. During a slight redesign, the inbound marketing firm decided to test a few alternatives. "We were pretty shocked to discover that ... more
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  Four Ways Small Businesses Can Make a Big Email Splash

  Graphic Design

  "Countless small businesses send out countless emails every day," writes Gary Levitt in an article at MarketingProfs. "If you were to sift through campaigns and results (as I do), the mountains of data would suggest two breeds of email campaign: the outstanding … and the invisible. Your emails need to ... more
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  Four Tips for Mobile Email Design

  Graphic Design

  "Designing emails that look great no matter where they're read can be quite the challenge," writes Justine Jordan at the Litmus blog. "As more people read email on mobile devices, chances are your recipient might view your email ... on a mobile phone as well as on their desktop." To help you ... more
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  Four Tips for Mobile SEO

  Graphic Design

  "Despite some predictions that mobile SEO will be of negligible importance, mobile search has grown 5x in the past 5 years—far outpacing PC searches—and the growth is only set to continue with the rapid uptick in smartphone sales," writes Lior Levin in a guest post at HubSpot. That means if you ... more
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  Time-Tested Tips and Tools for Faster Blogging

  Graphic Design

  In 2008, Lifehacker published a list of 10 ways to get blogging done without it becoming a chore. "Writing your blog should be a fun way to stretch your mind and stay connected to trends, friends, and the greater world," they note, "not another computer task."  Best practices for blogging haven't ... more
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  Five Ways to Make Your Website Tablet-Friendly

  Graphic Design

  You're seeing tablets more and more: on subways, in planes and in waiting rooms. To ensure you don't miss out during this cultural switch in reading habits, a number of publications have covered ways to ensure your site is tablet-friendly. We've decided to highlight the tips provided by CIK Marketing, as ... more
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  Marketing Smarts: Unleashing Creativity One Team at a Time

  by Matthew Grant

  Graphic Design

  In our latest Marketing Smarts Podcast, we talked to Alicia Arnold, senior VP of digital at Hill Holliday, about the myths surrounding creativity. At the center of our conversation was one myth: Creativity cannot be taught. more
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  Five Email Design Must-Haves

  Graphic Design

  The average email subscriber faces an inbox filled with clutter. Once she sorts through a variety of personal, professional and marketing messages, she won't look kindly on messy or incoherent email offers. "Without a well-crafted, clear and consistent design for your brand, your email is going nowhere in a hurry," ... more
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  Common Pitfalls and Challenges of Modern Customer Loyalty, Part 3 [Video]

  Graphic Design

  Part three of this five-part video series on digital loyalty explores customer understanding of loyalty programs, social platforms and access devices (e.g., mobile), common user-interface challenges, and alignment of loyalty programs with business goals. more
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  Six Crucial Factors of Mobile App Development

  Graphic Design

  Building a mobile application means winning more traction for your efforts: You can be with users all the time! But often, developers and execs might not quite "see" your great idea; instead, they see challenges and unplanned costs. It's time to educate yourself about such obstacles, so your next app proposal ... more
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  Turn Your Data Into Infographics: Five Cool Tools

  Graphic Design

  One aspect of being social is relaying information as efficiently as possible. But data is dense, and we have more of it to sift through than ever before. To help you get your data across in an eye-catching way that resonates, Fast Company offers a list of five tools businesses can ... more
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  Five Ways to Search-Optimize Your Images

  Graphic Design

  Ever wonder how much meaningful traffic or links could come your way if you search-optimized your images? The answer might be, More than you'd expect. So writes Michael Gray in a post at Graywolf's SEO Blog. Thanks to Google's universal search results, images can help you show up on the first ... more
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  Marketers Playing It Too Safe (Creatively)

  Graphic Design

  In an age where innovation is a key factor to business success, many ad and marketing executives are itching for more creative freedom on the job, according to a survey from The Creative Group. more
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  Four Reasons to Revive the Bulky Direct Mail Piece

  Graphic Design

  "Just a few years ago, I could count on receiving a mailbox-full of direct mail nearly every day, including the crown jewel of direct marketing, the BIG direct mail piece," writes Dean Rieck at Direct Creative. "Thick #10's, fat 6×9's, and beefy 9×12's once stood atop the mountain of attention-grabbing ... more
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  Draw a Picture With Your Data

  Graphic Design

  "Data visualization and infographics are powerful ways to communicate data, stats or information that most communications pros never even consider," writes Adam Singer at the Future Buzz blog. "And yet in a world increasingly saturated with data and information, they are a potent way to tell your story, break through ... more
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  What You Can Learn From the Gap's Logo Debacle

  Graphic Design

  Not long ago, Gap sparked a social-media firestorm when it quietly unveiled a redesigned logo. People not only disliked the bargain-basement aesthetic—they hated it. And, writes Umair Haque at Harvard Business Review, for good reason:  "The new logo reeks of something designed not just by committee," he says, "but by ... more
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  How to Ensure Your Messages Render Correctly

  Graphic Design

  You might think you've done your rendering homework, but that might not be the case. "Don't assume that the custom template you tested several months ago is still rendering correctly across all ISPs and Browsers on PCs, Macs, iPads," writes Kimbery Snyder at the Bronto blog. "ISPs are always changing ... more
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  Two Ad-Design Rules to Make Your Brand Message Stick

  Graphic Design

  "Brand identifiability is under the advertiser's control and is a key consideration in ad design," note the authors of a recent research report on the effectiveness of visual ads. But because of rising "media noise" due to competing advertisements and "active ad avoidance by consumers," it has become challenging for ... more
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  Improve Your Website by Removing These Four Things

  Graphic Design

  Marketing experts often tell you which features your website absolutely must have. But for a post at the HubSpot blog, Kipp Bodnar created a list of items you should delete as soon as possible from your site. Here are a few items that deserve immediate elimination: Complicated animation. There's little ... more
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  Three Things You Need To Know About Website Design

  Graphic Design

  Jonathan Kranz writes that he often winces at the missed opportunities he sees in B2C and B2B websites. "There may be nothing particularly 'wrong' about the design, the underlying coding, or even the writing," he says at MarketingProfs, "but these websites aren't right, because they fail to connect with customers ... more
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  Display Ads Making a Comeback

  Graphic Design

  The US display ad market has made a comeback in the last few months, led by JPEG ads, which accounted for 42.4% of impressions in May, and leaderboard-style banner ads (728 x 90 pixels), among the most commonly viewed display ad sizes, according to data from comScore's Ad Metrix Creative ... more
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  Four Lessons from Posh Real-Estate Agents

  Graphic Design

  If you're not in the market for luxury real estate, there's a good chance you haven't seen the glossy brochures that Christie's Great Estates and Sotheby's International Realty produce for their multimillion-dollar listings. "It is a shame that few of us do get to experience this world," writes Rohit Bhargava ... more
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  Do You Flickr?

  Graphic Design

  Most small businesses haven't figured out how to promote themselves on Flickr—and that means you can get an edge on the competition. And in a recent post at the Influential Marketing Blog, Rohit Bhargava offers several useful how-to pointers. Consider the following: It all starts with high-quality, non-marketing ... more
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  It's the Same, but Different

  Graphic Design

  If you want customers or members to fill out a form or volunteer their time, writes Roger Dooley at the Neuromarketing blog, "you will be more successful if you describe the task in a simple, easy to read typeface." The reason? When something can be completed in a shorter period ... more
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  Look Who's 10: Happy Birthday MarketingProfs!

  by Ann Handley

  Graphic Design

  This year marks the 10-year anniversary of MarketingProfs. The site was founded a decade ago by CEO Allen Weiss, a marketing academic, as a place where his fellow "prof"-essors and marketing "prof"-essionals could learn from each other. more

Graphic Design: See all 50 items

Graphic Design articles by the best and brightest in the field

• Worst-Practices: Anatomy of an Awful Adby Barry Densa
  When I saw this ad, I thought it was a joke. A parody, a satire, a lampoon... anything but what it really is—totally legit and serious. If ever there was a marketing message completely unaware of the modern zeitgeist (and offensive), this ad is it! Here's what not to do ... more
• How to Plan a Successful Website Redesignby Andrew Follett
  Website redesigns have become an addiction. Every year or two, Marketing decides it's time to "freshen up the ol' site." But before you go out and rebuild the most important weapon in your marketing arsenal, make sure you have a well-defined plan for success. more
• Four Lingering Myths About Video-Email Marketingby Andy Shore
  People are always looking for the next great thing in email marketing, and these days much of the talk involves social-networking integration. But now that email and online media have gotten much more sophisticated, there is one other technology—video, long considered taboo in email marketing—that can be integrated into your ... more
• Tips for Creating Traffic-Stopping Tradeshow Boothsby Stephanie Janard
  If you've ever manned a tradeshow booth, you're familiar with that sense of urgency to bring back home a stack of qualified leads. And, with so many other exhibitors vying for the same prize, you may find yourself behaving a bit like a carnival barker in your efforts to lure ... more
• Shattering Five Branding Mythsby Maria Ross
  When people think of branding, they often think of just a logo or business card. Or they think of the opposite extreme, such as Apple, and so assume they will never have the resources to "brand effectively." But branding on a budget is more than possible, and dispelling these five ... more
• Marketing Lesson From the Grateful Dead: Loosen Up Your Brandby David Meerman Scott, Brian Halligan
  The Grateful Dead teaches us to show our brand's playfulness and to trust that our customers will recognize our brand even if it looks a little "different." By loosening up your brand, you allow your company to show its personality—and, by extension, its ability to roll with the punches. more
• How to Ruin Your Brand, Your Business, and Your Career: The 13 Worst Marketing Mistakes, Part 2by M. P. Friedman
  This article originally addressed the seven worst marketing mistakes. But seven wasn't nearly enough. The list grew until it reached unlucky 13. Here is the next batch of marketing mistakes you should avoid at all cost. more
• Winning Facebook Tactics for Today's Search Marketerby Matt Lawson
  Facebook has more than 400 million active users who collectively spend more time on the platform than on any other website in the world, sharing detailed information about their likes, dislikes, and preferences. No wonder advertisers are salivating at the chance to reach Facebook users with precisely targeted ads. more
• 10 Tips for Crowdsourcing Advertising With a Video Contestby Wil Merritt
  Conversation marketing. Engagement marketing. Social media. Earned media. Consumer-generated media. User-generated Content. Crowdsourcing. Outsourcing. Co-creation. No matter what you call it, the evolution of the way brands reach and interact with consumers has led to mass experimentation with the alluring, yet often hard-to-execute marketing tactic: the video contest. more
• If My Dentist Understands Email Marketing, So Can You!by DJ Waldow
  Foothill Dental gets it. It's not "doing social media" in the way we think of it. Foothill Dental does not have a Twitter account or Facebook fan page. It doesn't blog or answer questions on LinkedIn. It doesn't use Gowalla or Foursquare. Foothill Dental leverages the awesome power of email ... more
• Achieve (Compelling) Visual Coherence: Build a Brand Identity Toolkit That's Flexible, Durable, Shareable—and Yoursby Roger Sametz
  Creating your visual brand mosaic requires a toolkit different from the one used by earlier corporate ID practitioners––one based more on shared thinking and approaches and less around rules, one that allows you to tune communications for different initiatives and constituencies, and one that can be taught and shared. more
• When Best-Practices Aren't: Five Ways to Break the Rules of Email Marketing and Still Win the Gameby DJ Waldow
  A best-practice is the generally preferred practice, one that will make your company more money, thus making your boss happy, which in turn will make you happy. If it were only that easy. more
• A Five-Step Guide to Take Your Campaign Globalby Dina Paglia
  How can you ensure that your translated campaign carries the impact of the original? More important, how do you avoid the enormous cost (new creative, photography, design) of having to launch a new marketing campaign for each local market? more
• A 10-Question Lead-Generation Checkup Checklist for Your Websiteby Bob DeStefano
  Is your website a lead-generation machine? Your website can be your most powerful marketing tool, delivering a steady stream of new business leads and filling your sales pipeline. Find out your website's lead-generation potential by giving it a lead-generation checkup. more
• Six Keys to Writing a Great Proposalby Doug Stern, Jaclyn Landon
  Looking for ways to create a proposal that sets you and your company favorably apart? Ways that capture the great things you have to offer? Here are six suggested best-practices intended to not only maximize your chances to stand out and land the job but also manage the risks. more
• Revamp to Revenue: Five Ways to Turn on the Profits With Your Websiteby Greg Gaskill
  In the current economic climate, more business owners need to evaluate their website and revamp it to turn it into a presales tool, lead-generation machine, or even a revenue-producing cash cow. Can it be done? It just takes a few tweaks to turn on the profits. more
• Five Reasons Why Mobile Marketing Is Prime for B2Bs—And Five Key Questions B2B Marketers Should Be Askingby Christina "CK" Kerley
  In the B2C space there's a lot of buzz around mobile marketing, but in the B2B sector it's more likened to a whisper. B2Bs are missing out on super-sized opportunities for integrating a valuable new brand touch point for their customers and establishing a dynamic new communications channel with professional ... more
• What Stonyfield, Method, and Green Mountain Roasters Know (and You Should, Too) by Ted Mininni
  New vision and approaches can add significantly more value to brands over their competitors. Some brands can easily become commodities. Unless they choose otherwise. more
• How to Be Successful With New Web Initiativesby Christian Shea
  One of the traps that many organizations fall into when launching a new Web initiative is putting the focus of the project on new technology or new functionality. Instead, you need to start your project with the end result in mind. This article outlines project phases that you need to ... more
• How a B2B Company Went From Zero Brand Awareness to 190 Leads With Its First-Ever Direct-Mail Effortby Pete Savage
  With Q4 looming, along iwth company revenue targets for the year ahead, this company faced the perennial dilemma common to B2B marketers: how to fill the sales funnel with quality leads now to get a jump on sales-cycle activity in January. A classic direct-mail package and a brilliantly simple strategy ... more
• Is Your Homepage Overwhelming and Underperforming?by Kathryn Roy
  Are your website visitors like tourists strolling through Times Square on their way to a matinee with little time to spare, or are they a captive audience willing to watch and absorb all you hope to communicate? Websites increasingly appear to assume the latter, but Web-analytics data prove the former. more
• True Stories: A Cautionary Tale of Rebranding Gone Astrayby Liz Conlin
  Most of the branding articles that you read are happy, glowing tales of how an agency rebranded a client and turned that client into a superstar brand with double-digit growth. Well, this is not one of those stories. We often learn more from our mistakes than from our successes. more
• 22 Cheap or Free Web Usability Tools, Part 2by Craig Tomlin
  In Part 1 of this series, we discussed the value of usability testing and talked about some testing tools. Here are more reviews of low-cost or no-cost usability tools. more
• Email Marketing Tips for the 2009 Holiday Seasonby Alex Williams
  The holiday season is the most important time of year for retailers, when aggressive goals are set for increased traffic and sales, both in-store and online. Email marketing is a powerful tool that retailers can use to build their brands and increase sales during that crucial period. more
• 22 Cheap or Free Web Usability Tools, Part 1: An Introductionby Craig Tomlin
  Usability testing can increase your website's conversion rates and improve sales. Here are some cool tools to help you do just that. more

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Graphic Design case studies, deconstructing real life examples and illustrating lessons learned.

• How Weekly Reader Boosted Renewals by Altering Its Direct Marketing Package and CollateralWeekly Reader
  CASE STUDY: Weekly Reader, a publisher of materials for elementary and secondary schools, needed to improve direct mail renewal rates, which had been trending downward. A simple redesign and copy change worked to increase the response rate and orders for the fall school year. more
• How Sherwin-Williams Used Digital Collateral for a Newly Launched Product to Engage Retailers and ConsumersSherwin-Williams Company, Krylon division
  You have a snazzy new product and need marketing collateral to show it off. You want to rally your sales force around it, and at the same time excite the retailers who'll carry it. Print won't do. But digital will. more
• A Niche E-tailer Sizes Up Glamour... One Customer at a Time, Boosting Sales with a Personalized Web Site ExperienceSydney's Closet
  Five years ago, Sydney's Closet sold only plus-size prom dresses. Since then, however, the company has significantly expanded its lines, and it sought to segment its customers to help deliver content and offers that would be specific to their interests and needs. Here's its approach. more
• How a Web-based Company Increased Leads 90%—and Sales 23%—via PPC-Visitor Profiling, Landing Page PersonalizationCompany: Continental Warranty
  Continental Warranty used pay-per-click ads to generate leads by providing free quotes for extended-warranty coverage. But lead volume had plateaued. So it began to profile its web visitors, then direct them to microsites matching their profiles—and nearly doubled leads. more
• How a Digital Input Device Manufacturer Increased Engagement With Customers, Upped Holiday SalesWacom Technology Corp.
  Wacom's digital pens and their capabilities are well-known in the business world. To continue growing, however, the company needed to address the consumer market. Here's how it effectively reached a new fan community. more
• How an Online Business Increased Conversions (Sales) on Landing Pages by Up to 12%AutoAnything.com
  AutoAnything.com, which sells custom-made automotive accessories and performance parts, designed its homepage almost a decade ago. But as e-commerce has become more competitive, the site needed a strategy. After testing different versions of landing pages, AutoAnything.com increased landing-page conversions by up to 12%. more
• How a B2C Web Site's Landing-Page Tests Resulted in a 67% Jump in ConversionsBabyCenter
  The landing page for a top Web site's most popular search term converted about 30 percent less frequently than the company's general landing page. By simultaneously testing four new versions of the landing page, the site was able to ensure relevance, increasing conversions 67%—and decreasing abandonment rates. more
• How Garden Fresh Realized a Huge Gain in Web Traffic and Longer-Term Loyalty via EmailGarden Fresh Restaurant Corp.
  Garden Fresh Restaurants sought to increase customer engagement with its "Club Veg" loyalty club, totaling more than half a million opt-in members. Its two interactive email campaigns worked like a charm -- leading to huge increases in site traffic and boosting customer loyalty. more
• How a Swiss Co. Doubled US Sales by Convincing Consumers That Its Product Is Hip and Worth a PremiumSIGG USA
  SIGG had been selling its aluminum water and fuel bottles to the US outdoor market for years at a price about twice as much as the closest competitor's. It counted on the Swiss reputation for quality to drive sales—but sales were flat. Then its newly formed US subsidiary made some surprising discoveries via market research. more
• How a Nonprofit Used Member Resources to Increase Brand Awareness Across Multiple MarketsOregon Sports Authority
  The nonprofit Oregon Sports Authority (OSA) was striving to bring new sporting events, teams, and tourist dollars to the state. It also wanted to become the official sports resource for state residents. An overhaul of its promotions and more compelling communication of its brand were the ambitious goals that the four-employee nonprofit set for itself--and achieved, with a little help from a capable member base, which included the likes of Nike. more
• How an Insurance Company Web Site Achieved Significant Increases in Click-Throughs and ConversionsAmerican International Underwriters (AIU)
  By dynamically changing content on its start page to targeted segments of site visitors, along with testing the placement of additional product offerings within the transaction funnel, American International Underwriters upped the conversion rates of several of its products. more
• How a European B2C Manufacturer's Web Site Re-launch Tapped the US Market, Encouraged CommunityDunderdon
  Dunderson, a Swedish manufacturer of high-end urban clothes, wanted to expand its clientele to the key US market. Since the vast majority of its business came from third-party retailers selling to European consumers, it had limited exposure to Americans—mostly through one retail outlet in New York City. At the same time, it wanted to shift its business model more toward direct business-to-consumer sales via its Web site. more
• How a B2C Web Site's Landing-Page Tests Resulted in a 67% Jump in ConversionsBabyCenter
  When a top Web site took a close look its landing pages, company officials noticed something unacceptable: The landing page for the company's most popular search term converted about 30 percent less frequently than the company's general landing page. By simultaneously testing four new versions of the landing page, the site was able to ensure relevance, increasing conversions 67%—and decreasing abandonment rates to boot. For any marketer who struggles to make ads and landing pages directly relevant to the consumer's search, this case study provides valuable insight. more

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Graphic Design online seminar broadcasts from the best minds in marketing

• Social Media 1.0: What B2B Marketers Need to Know About Video, Widgets, Blogs and MoreBroadcast on Apr 11, 2007
• e-Newsletters: Get Attention and Build LoyaltyBroadcast on Feb 22, 2007
• Crash Course #6: Direct Marketing Creative SavvyBroadcast on Jan 25, 2007
• Best Practices in Web Content: Beauty Doesn't Matter (much)Broadcast on Dec 7, 2006
• Killer Web Content: Make the sale. Deliver the service. Build the brand.Broadcast on Dec 6, 2006
• Crash Course #3: How to Craft a Compelling Direct Marketing Offer and Call-to-ActionBroadcast on Nov 30, 2006
• Email Marketing Success: 10 Campaigns Examined for Better and for WorseBroadcast on Aug 24, 2006
• Demystifying Website Usability: Rapid Research for MarketersBroadcast on Jul 25, 2006
• 12 Creative Campaigns Up Close: Analyzing Direct Marketing CommunicationsBroadcast on Jul 6, 2006
• Behind the Wheel of Web Redesign: What Drives SuccessBroadcast on Oct 6, 2005

Graphic Design: See all 10 seminars

Graphic Design Take 10 Webcasts—tactical marketing know-how in just 10 minutes from subject matter experts

• Take 10: How to Select Images That Make Your Marketing More EffectiveReleased on Jul 1, 2011
• Take 10: Create an Effective Corporate YouTube VideoReleased on Dec 24, 2010
• Take 10: 7 Ways You Can Fix Your Website Forms to Get More LeadsReleased on Aug 13, 2010
• Take 10: How to Plan a YouTube Video Shoot in 6 StepsReleased on Aug 6, 2010

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Graphic Design marketing downloads for the busy professional

• Lead Generation How-To Guide
  Great product, great sales team, great marketing collateral - now what? People to sell to, of course. Put your lead generation tactics under the microscope with this enlightening how-to guide. Get more and better qualified leads, faster today.

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