The History Of Flyer Design.

The history of flyer design can be traced back as far as the 16th century to a method of promotion which in itself is a centuries old art and takes the form of poster design. With an improvement in lithograph printing came the birth of the colourful poster as a method to astound as well as advertise. From Toulouse-Lautrec’s first poster, Moulin Rouge to Alphonse Mucha, a Czech living in Paris who designed the first Art Noveau poster the poster was now to be appreciated as a piece of fine art. Between the end of the 18th century and the end of World War II there had been many highly successful and prominent uses of the poster design in promoting everything from Absinthe in Paris, bullfighting in Spain, The Circus in the UK to American conscription with the inspired “I want you” Uncle Sam posters.

In the sixties the flyer design began as a colourful and popular method of mass advertising for those promoters on a low budget and became increasingly popular as psychedelic imagery was incorporated into the design to promote bands The Rolling Stones, The Doors and Pink Floyd.
From the idealistic and mind altering imagery of the 60s came the photocopied and anarchic punk flyers used by punk bands in Britain such as The Sex Pistols and The Buzzcocks. America had its own hardcore punk scene to design for and had flyers promoting The Ramones and The New York Dolls amongst many others. The designs seemed to fit the mood as monotone designs using ripped pages and imagery of DM boots and mohican haired punks were distributed amongst the punk population.

With the birth of electronic dance music came a new wave of design which would lead to the flyer design of the present day. Taking inspiration from the Ecstasy fueled nights and early mornings of raves across Britain the designs usually took the form of hedonistic and surreal imagery with large use of colour.Everything from 3D vectors to fractal shapes were mixed with staring eyes and dancing figures to promote events such as Fantazia, Amnesia and Rezurrection. A spiritual element pervaded across a lot of these early rave flyer designs.

And so to the present where flyer and poster design is now more popular and accessible as it ever has been. Flyers are designed using a mixture of traditional and modern art and feature in galleries and exhibitions across the world. The club flyer is more popular now as a method of promoting your event or in conveying your message to the public in the most colourful and informative way possible. Until the purely digital flyer can replace the printed flyer in accessibility and popularity, flyer design and printing is alive and well.

This article may not be reproduced without the authors permission.
Please visit Pixelpowder Design to contact writer.

Public Relations - Defining Your Organization from the Inside Out

What do your customers say about your company?

Would you let your major competitor control your sales strategy?

Public relations is an inevitable consequence of being in business. Whether you like it or not, your corporate image evolves with every interaction with clients, investors, competitors, and even between your own employees. Thus, managing perceptions of your company is just as important to the bottom line as what you sell and who buys it. Unfortunately, many companies see PR as a reaction to external forces and lose control over market direction as a result.

As with all other corporate activities PR should be treated as a strategic process. Adopting a strategic PR campaign enables a company to not only compete better in the marketplace, but also be successful across market boundaries. Being proactive rather than reactive means establishing long-term goals that are measurable and repeatable and that will ensure longevity and achievement for the company. The setting of objectives, milestones, and metrics guarantees that any and all PR activities are aligned with the company’s objectives and will deliver real results.

By answering the following questions, a strategic process will emerge for PR that will support all of the company’s process and goals.

Who are you?

What do others say about us?

What are the corporate objectives?

How can we control the PR process?

Your Internal Identity

The reality is that good PR begins at the office: possessing a strong sense of corporate identity on all levels is key to having a consistent and credible public image. It is the responsibility of management to articulate to all employees the company’s mission statement and make it actionable. This is a message that will be repeated and demonstrated to external audiences daily through virtually every company interaction. Employees who believe in the mission statement will display the corporate image through their actions. Indecision, multiple, or conflicting messages at any level will have a negative impact and inadvertently kill any momentum that might be achieved.

By making PR a strategic process and not a reaction to external situations, a consistent message will be developed across all corporate segments. Applied correctly, it is a message that will eventually evolve into corporate attitude and culture. Actively defining the image of your company ultimately impacts the credibility obtained from all sectors: employees, investors, customers, competitors, and the general public. Actions speak louder than words and govern how all outsiders will interact with you. Establishing a mission that is accepted and adopted by every segment of your company will aid in verifying your value.

Your External Identity

Initiating a strategic PR campaign allows your company to control its place in the market by defining perceptions across all segments of the value network. It is more than just a clever marketing campaign to support your products - it is an extension of the corporate identity. Think about what others say about you - your customers, competition, shareholders, and the general public. In today’s economy the response needs to be in harmony.

A coordinated PR strategy is critical to delivering a consistent and compelling message across all of your company’s interfaces. The focus is on establishing the company image, and will impact the reception you garner from each of these audiences. Confirming the corporate message needs to practiced with all departments working in unison because conflicting signals will undermine the significance of any future efforts. For example, your marketing team cannot be contradicting what the product team asserts for product capability.

A company’s image is most important for non-customers. What do your competitors say about you? Do they take you seriously? Do your suppliers? How about industry analysts? Do potential employees want to work for your company? These impressions do count and can determine the company’s maneuverability in a dynamic market by determining access to needed resources and strategic options. Strategic PR delivers a consistent, credible message that establishes a foundation for future efforts and results.

Corporate Strategy Alignment

Knowing your company’s short-range and long-term aspirations is vital in setting the tone for any and all PR campaigns. Having a clear direction allows definition of long-term goals and short-term milestones to be set and success to be measured. As with other corporate processes, the PR campaign should be aligned with management’s objectives and reinforce the other corporate efforts. Buy-in is needed from all rows and columns in the company’s organizational table. Through strategic public relations initiatives, the necessary steps will be developed to implement the plan that will support and promote reaching desired results. Ultimately, by transmitting the company’s mission through the attitude and actions of all stakeholders, a common vision will take hold that will ensure success

Increasing Your Perceived Value

Obviously, not all of the aspects of external perception mentioned above can be controlled (i.e. competitors). This is the reason, however, that strategic PR must be implemented as a proactive process. A consistently delivered message, encompassing both words and deeds, across all facets of the corporate identity will mitigate even the worst things that others might say about your company. To ensure success, PR needs to be managed with the same seriousness as sales, product development, and marketing activities. The entire corporate team must believe in the goals (which will be infectious to all who hear the message) and the process (which will generate buy-in at all levels). Most importantly, an executive must be assigned to shape and coordinate the message across the various outlets and channels. Inclusion of an outside PR professional can be a valuable addition, to avoid group-think and maintain objectivity (which underlies credibility).

Conclusions

A strategic PR campaign is an often-neglected component in establishing a company’s market position and chances of success. It is not focused on just the marketing or sales team, but provides them with a strong foundation to leverage, built on the attitude and image of the total organization. Like all other important corporate activities, PR must be implemented as a well-defined process that is proactive instead of reactive, with short- and long-term goals as well as objective metrics. By developing this new mindset, your company can maximize its potential by controlling external perceptions.

Agnes Brousseau has more than 14 years of public relations, sales and marketing experience with emphasis on corporate communications. She joined BlabberMouth PR a Vice President of Client Services from JPMorganChase Bank, a leader in investment banking, financial services, asset and wealth management and private equity. As an Austin, Texas-based Branch Manager, she was responsible for over $7 million in sales and increasing the overall ranking for the branch to a top position. As a direct result of her expert communications strategies and sales planning, the branch assumed the number one position in Texas for portfolio growth.

The native Australian began her career in 1988 as a paramedic with Halifax County EMS /Hollister Volunteer Rescue Squad. She transitioned to public relations, where she headed the public relations initiatives for the organization. She was also an EMS, CPR and First Aid Instructor for the State of North Carolina and was the designated community spokesperson for EMS. In 1996 she received a Dedicated Service Award.

For more information, visit http://www.blabbermouthPR.com.

Don’t Be a Secret Agent

This tactic of the game was hard for me to master and at first I failed many times. I carried my business cards only in my briefcase, because I thought they were only used in business. Wrong! I missed quite a few opportunities to toot my horn because of that misconception. Not only did I miss the opportunity, but when it did arise, I looked like an amateur. Here’s what happen on one of those occasions.

One day while standing in a bank line waiting to make a deposit - by the way, it was the merchant bank line; a nicely dressed gentleman noticed I had several checks from different companies. He asked about my occupation. I cheerfully explained my business and qualifications. He stated that he was impressed and promptly asked for my business card. Oops! I didn’t have one in my possession. I had to meekly admit that I did not have one with me. He now realized I was new to the game and in a teaching tone, he suggested I should carry them in my wallet. He went on to explain, that I should never be without one. I was too embarrassed to ask for his business card and was elated when the teller said “next.”

New to the game, I truly didn’t think people would just ask you for a business card. When I related this incident to my boyfriend Tim, he chimed in.

“Why wait for people to ask? Don’t be a secret agent; leave them for people to find.” He continued, “When you leave a tip on the lunch table, leave your business card.

“What?” I questioned, “I don’t think a waitress or buss boy would use my services.”

“You don’t know that.” he calmly continued, “Besides they may know of someone who needs your services. Standing in lines or elevators are the best places to sell yourself,” with that he winked and said, “you’ve got a captive audience.”

###
Gina Novelle (copyright 12-2004)

Gina Novelle is a published free lance writer. Her company sponsors the web site http://www.thirdpocket.com, a support site for the self-employed. Her book, “Business Secrets Men Don’t Tell Women” reveals how women and men view self-employment differently and will be available in 2005. She currently offers her services as an Ezine Writer to optimize search engine ratings. gina@exclusivemarkets.net

Sterling Silver Jewelry - Mystique & Intrigue

Sterling Silver Jewelry has always been popular precious metal
in ancient legends and throughout history in every country.
While silver is used in lots of products, it’s use as money and
sterling silver jewelry are the source of its mystique and
intrigue. There are many movie plots based on stealing sterling
silver jewelry and seeking lost sterling silver jewelry items
with magical qualities. If you love sterling silver jewelry, you
probably feel the same way each time you put on your sterling
silver jewelry and head for adventure.

Sterling Silver Jewelry - Keep It Clean!

Sterling silver jewelry comes in an amazing variety of styles
and textures over its 4,000 year history. Ever notice how your
sterling silver jewelry sometimes just catches your eye and
casts a spell on you? It’s not just your illusion. The hypnotic
power of a sterling silver jewelry flows from its highly
polished surface that reflects the light in a way like no other
jewelry can. Another finish applied to sterling silver jewelry
is rhodium that gives it a slightly darker finish. As you know,
sterling silver jewelry tarnishes. Keep a soft cloth and silver
polish and handy to keep your sterling silver jewelry shining
bright.

Sterling Silver Jewelry - Why is it 92.5% Silver?

The term “sterling silver jewelry” refers to jewelry cast from
92.5% silver. This is because 100 % pure sterling silver jewelry
is a little soft and prone to bending and breaking. The 92.5%
silver content creates sterling silver jewelry that is both
elegant and durable. Reproductions of sterling silver jewelry
worn by kings and queens represent a romantic tie between people
in love today and ancient history. Browse sterling silver
jewelry online for exquisite and extraordinary ancient jewelry
pieces that excites the soul.

Sterling Silver Jewelry- Buying Tips

When buying sterling silver jewelry on the internet, keep in
mind most online stores are honest and care about your
satisfaction. Most offer thirty day warranty on your sterling
silver jewelry and will exchange it. Like many purchases, it
pays to pay by credit card for your protection.

Touched by Silver is a leading sterling silver
jewelry company that specializes in unique sterli
ng silver necklaces for men and women. TBS (Touched by
Silver) offers a unique line of alluring women’s sterli
ng silver necklaces in contemporary and classic styles. For
more info, visit Touched by Silver today.

Sterling Silver Jewelry, Sterling Silver Necklaces

The Biggest AdWords Mistake NOT to Make

As advertisers, you know it’s basic to find your real target market.

For example, it’s not just young men between 18 and 34 who like sports- it may more specifically those who are online, have spent money online and make more than 50,000 a year.

Well for an adwords consultant like me, prospects include anyone who isn’t doing adwords optimally. And I’ve discovered that’s just about everybody who’s doing adwords.

Let’s forget about the advanced things we can do with reports, excel, optimizing ROAS, negative keywords, etc.

I’ve found that amongst clients some of the BASICS are still neglected.

What I’m thinking of, the most offensive thing right now, is the lack of conversion tracking.

If you haven’t installed conversion tracking code from adwords into your thank you page, you just don’t get it.

Google has a conflict of interests, you see- the more you pay for ads and the more clicks you generate, the more money they make. But still they want you to be happy, so they have plenty of help pages on increasing click through rate (CTR), tracking conversions, etc. And they certify AdWords Qualified Individuals (professionals) like me once we have a certain amount of experience and pass a rigorous third-party exam.

But you know what they don’t do? They don’t show the conversion rate of ads next to the CTR. You have to run a report to get that.

So you may end up deleting your more profitable ads. I’ve seen clients miss out on millions of dollars of revenue doing that.

But of course, if you haven’t installed conversion tracking, you won’t be able to make any decisions about profitability with adwords- whether it concerns ads or keywords.

Install conversion tracking?

Just do it.

Brian B. Carter, MS is a San Diego e-business consultant who helps helps businesses create new adwords campaigns and optimize existing ones, make more money, get better ROI and find more customers.