1 Give Thanks
People will remember your kindness. Thank anyone who refers business to you with a personalized thank you card.

2 Make it Simple
If your product or service saves time or makes life easier, that may be more important to some customers than saving money.

3 Spread Holiday Cheer
Holidays are the perfect time to launch a lighthearted seasonal campaign to reward and connect with your current customers.

4 Deck the Halls
Change your website to reflect the season and decorate your site just like you would decorate your own storefront.

5 Bring’ em back for more
People return to sites for new information, bring back visitors and motivate them to spread the word with new content. If there are no new products lined up, provide industry updates, trends and forecasts.

6˚ Get Creative
To be appreciated and maybe even remembered, your holiday card must stand out in some way from the dozens of other generic and oh-so-forgettable cards.

Give your customers more than they expected. Good service generally goes unnoticed and may not receive comment — exceptional service does. What small thing can you do that will surprise customers without additional cost to the company?

Choosing a color palette for your company is an important step in the branding process. Here are six tips for choosing your company colors:

Simplicity is Key
Usually only two to three colors are needed to define your brand. Once you have your primary color picked out, choose a bold accent color that you can use to highlight important content.

Analyze the Competition
Whether you want to blend in or stand out, it is important to see what other companies within your industry are using to define their brand.

Know Your Audience
Understanding who you are marketing to is a key factor in choosing the right colors. While bright neon colors might work well for teenagers, an older generation may prefer a more subdued palette.

Differentiate
Take your analysis of the competition and go in another direction. Make your brand stand out.

Think Psychologically
Decide what types of feelings you want to evoke in your customers when they see your brand or visit your website. Do you want to be attention grabbing or more peaceful and serene?

Think Big and Go Past Color to Personality
Use bold colors that set you apart, but try to avoid trends and fads that have a tendency to fade out. Choose colors that complement the personality of your brand. Think about whether you want to convey friendliness and energy or more professionalism and confidence.

Image via Marketo Blog

So go ahead. Do your research and find a balance to make your brand unique and if you need help, feel free to contact us to help set you apart.

Some students go to college knowing exactly what they want to do. I did. But for most 18 year olds the decision of choosing a major can be overwhelming.  And for my son, sending out a college application as “undecided” has a negative feeling, putting even more pressure on his decision making.

Growing up in an artistic family, he has a passion for the digital arts, with sights set on the gaming industry as so many young people do. It’s difficult to predict the employment market, but one thing is for sure, computers are everywhere and they are here to stay. In such a competitive industry, he was encouraged when we saw a story about a website called Code.org, perhaps opening doors to even bigger and better and more creative applications.

Hadi Partovi, co-founder of Code.org recently sat down for an interview with Ryan Seacrest and explained that, “most of the schools in the country don’t teach computer programming and coding. The jobs outnumber students 3-1 in computer programming, so if we got more students to study this and to major in it, we’d be able to add a half a trillion dollars to the U.S. economy, which is a big deal.”

Code.org describes itself as a “non-profit dedicated to growing computer programming education. Our vision is that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science. We believe computer science should be part of the core curriculum in education, alongside other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses, such as biology, physics, chemistry and algebra.”

To learn more and to try out some simple coding for yourself, visit Code.org.

I was flattered to be invited to speak with the graduating art students at Henderson high school this week. My portfolio presentation was in a sense a small collection of big ideas. I wanted to give the class a glimpse into all the concept thinking that goes behind the final piece, which the audience actually sees.

Since I was going there to “inspire” them I wanted to give each student something to think about after I left.

And what better way, then a jar full of inspiration to follow their dreams. Each Ball jar contained 5 different inspirational creative quotes. The pay it forward card has a firefly on the backside leaving room to write a name, phone number or email address. I also included 3 mini glow stick each tied with a yellow netting to resemble wings and give the jar a little more glow.

My hope was to encourage students to be innovative and think differently when it came time for them to be remembered.

“A mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.”