List #3 | Where In the World Are Our Clients?

Distance doesn't impede our ability to successfully serve our clients. Our clients have hailed from...

• Phoenix, Arizona
  
• Austin, Texas
  
• Boise, Idaho
  
• Chicago, Illinois
  
• Denver, Colorado
• Eugene, Oregon
• Issaquah, Washington
• Kansas City, Kansas
• Vancouver, Washington
• Mexico
• San Francisco, California
  
• United Kingdom

List #2 | For Whom We've Designed

Here are some of the clients/industries we've produced designs for...

• Architect
  
• Artists
• Attorneys
• Authors
• Automotive repair
• Business consultants
• Butterfly release company
• Chef
• Chiropractors
• Churches
• Civil design
• Copy writers
• CPAs
• Equipment rental company
• Frozen dessert companies
• Funeral home
• Home inspectors
• Interior designers
• Illustrator
• IT companies
• Jewelry designer
• Landscapers
• Life coaches
• Massage therapists
  
• Plant nursery
• Pool services
• Printers
• Professional organizers
• Promotional products
• Real Estate
• Restaurants
• Retail stores
• Tire shops
• Yoga studio

Client Kudos | Tammy's Treasures

"I contacted Visage when I began marketing my one-of-a-kind handcrafted jewelry. I wanted a logo and business card that would reflect the individuality of my business. They actually listened to me and voila! I am incredibly impressed with their creativity and ability to produce such quality work! The very best part is that my logo and business cards get me favorably noticed!" ~ Tammy Goldstein, Tammy's Treasures of Pflugerville, TX

Sizzle or Fizzle?

You only have one opportunity to make a first impression – and often your business card is it. Does yours sizzle or fizzle?

Your business card is more than a name and number. In an instant it projects an image – and when it comes to your company's image, "good enough" just shouldn't be.

At Visage Creative we take a sincere interest in our clients' needs and success. We know your business is important to you. And, we REALLY don't want you walking around with cards that fizzle.

So, from April 1 through April 30, 2008, we're offering an incredible business card makeover deal that includes 1000 full color printed business cards for only $195.00 (that's a $327.00 value). Schedule your makeover today – call us at 480.471.6393.

© 2008 Visage Creative Business Services, Inc.

Three Savvy Saving Strategies

Three ways to slash spending without skimping on style:

Co-print with another business
In the world of printing, bigger is often better. Coordinate with another business that's needing a piece similar to yours. By having your pieces printed together on a single print run you can split the cost with your "print partner."

Make your words timeless
Show off your product or tout your services while avoiding information that is dated or likely to change -- thereby avoiding the cost of printing updated pieces. For instance instead of "18 years in business" you could say "In business since 1990." You might also consider leaving pricing off your piece, and use a less-expensive pricing insert that you can change as your prices change - without reprinting the entire piece.

Scrutinize samples or proofs
Before giving the go-ahead to your graphic designer or printer, double check even the most basic information such as phone numbers and the spelling of names. Take that extra moment to make sure everything is accurate and laid out the way you want it. Re-proofing, re-printing and re-revising all mean re-spending!

© 2008 Visage Creative Business Services, Inc.

List #1 | Things We've Designed

Here's a list of just some of the items we've design for our clients over the years...

• Ads
• Auto signage
• Banners
• Beverage cans
• Book covers
• Brochures
• Business cards
• Business identity
• Calendars
• Catalogs
• CD covers
• Coasters
• Coupons
• Cups
• Event programs
• Fingernail files
• Fliers
• Food product labels
• Gift certificates
• Gift tags
• Greeting cards
• HTML emails/newsletters
• Invitations
• Journal books
  
• Labels and stickers
• Letterhead
• Life size tradeshow cut out
• Line cards
• Lip balm
• Logo re-creation
• Logos
• Magic Cube
• Magnets
• Menus
• Mouse pads
• Movie slide
• Mugs
• Name badges
• Newsletters
• Note pads
• Pens
• Photo editing
• Photo restoration
• Postcards
• Posters
• PowerPoint presentations
• Presentation folders
• Product concept renderings
• Salsa labels
• Scarves
• Shirts
• Signage
• Snack wrappers
  
• Stress balls
• Tattoos
• Tote bags
• Turkey boxes
  
• Web sites
• MS Word forms and templates

Tips to Take to Your Designer

Here are some hints for effective communication throughout the design process:

1. If you don’t already have a designer that’s willing to listen to your input, create exceptional designs and work with your budget, contact us.
2. Talk to your designer about your business - what makes it unique, what makes it better than the competitors, what your customers say.
3. If you already have an idea of what you are looking for, do your best to communicate that from the outset.
4. Show your designer any current/previous marketing materials. Discuss what you liked and disliked about each piece and whether there are any you will continue to use.
5. Give constructive feedback. Once you see a concept, take some time to think through it. Consider how well it will work as a representation of your business. Let the designer know what you like and dislike in an open but courteous manner. Giving the designer well thought out reasons for your feelings will help him or her get closer the next time to what you had envisioned.

© 2007 Visage Creative Business Services, Inc.

Branding Basics | Part 2: Selling Your Brand

In Part I we discussed the importance of creating a company identity in the minds of your clients and potential clients – in other words, branding to sell. This article is about the next step – selling your brand. When you’ve established good, consistent branding, you can focus your marketing not only on the product or service you’re selling, but also on the customer experience - the feeling evoked by your branding.

Selling your brand means more than simply selling products or services. It’s selling customers on who you are. Getting them to buy into your image greatly increases the chances they will return.

Let’s say you sell office supplies. This may seem straightforward, but, like in any industry, there’s always a way to differentiate yourself. If you have set yourself apart by selling higher quality merchandise than your competitors, your marketing materials should have a more elegant look. Your brochure might resemble monogrammed stationery. If, on the other hand, you want to market yourself through your low prices, then your materials will emphasize price and bargains. Marketing material should be nice, but “no frills.”

Of course, price isn’t the only way to differentiate yourself - there are a million more strategies. For every strategy, there is at least one great marketing approach. The secret is to give potential clients a sample of your company’s style, a taste of what they can expect, and current clients a reminder of why doing business with you is so great.

© 2007 Visage Creative Business Services, Inc.

Christmas in July

Soup kitchen and food pantry supplies often dwindle during the summer months when the Holiday food drive season is long past. Hunger, however, doesn’t go away. In answer to this problem, United Food Bank is conducting a summer food drive, “Christmas in July,” and Visage Creative is excited to participate. Ten percent of our design proceeds from projects started between May 15 and June 30 will go towards the purchase of food to be donated to the United Food Bank.

You can make a difference for people in need in our community simply by starting a new project from May 15 to June 30. Is there a marketing project you’ve been meaning to get to? This is the perfect time! Give us a call today to schedule your next project, and feel good about contributing to a great cause.

You can also help by spreading the word.

© 2007 Visage Creative Business Services, Inc.

The Power of Space

There is a common misconception that good use of space is coating every inch of your marketing materials with data. However, even design needs room to breathe.

Think about it. When wandering through a big city maze of concrete and dizzyingly tall buildings, we crave large expanses of sky. In a crowded schedule, we crave an unoccupied moment. Amidst the noise of daily life, we crave silence. A business card crammed with information and images will leave the recipient craving visual respite. If a website, brochure or other marketing piece is too crowded with information, it loses impact. Often, nothing stands out and the piece will be overlooked completely.

A well-designed marketing piece, on the other hand, will include plenty of space and only elements that enhance its purpose. Take web sites, for example. To make the biggest impact, the information must be organized in way that is easy to navigate and visually appealing. This is something we at Visage strive for. However, you don’t have to take our word for it. The following links will take you to some well-known companies that illustrate this principle beautifully:

• Google
• Nike.com
• Tiffany & Co.
• Kenneth Cole
• FranklinCovey

We also have some great examples in our gallery.

© 2007 Visage Creative Business Services, Inc.

Client Spotlight | Fresh Designs for Desert Dessert Company

Made-to-Order Design
Not all our clients come to us looking for creative ideas. Some already know exactly what they want. Walter E. Barker of Desert Cool Foods, manufacturer of soft serve and specialty beverage mixes for the restaurant industry, already had an established business with a logo and web site. He first came to Visage in 2002 wanting a poster with a cactus that had ice cream cones for the arms. We created a whole desert scene. Later, he asked us to swap out one of the ice cream cones for a slush. That image is now a range of the company’s marketing pieces – business cards, a trade show banner, nutrition information cards, apparel, product brochures, and the first of a series of postcards. Walter provided inspiration, and we designed the postcards and created a unique Desert Cool look.

Walter’s latest venture is Floránce Gourmet Frozen Dessert Mix. He wanted the marketing to evoke the feeling of escaping to a beautiful, worry-free place. We worked with him to develop the tagline, “One taste will take you there,” then set to work composing the setting he imagined – a couple seated at an outdoor table in front of an ice cream shop on the Mediterranean coast. Once the design was completed, it was used for both product labels and a postcard announcing arrival of the new dessert mix.

Rave Reviews
The reaction to all the Desert Cool postcards has been fantastic. People look forward to receiving their next mailing and can spot the company’s marketing pieces right away. Our opinion of the company? Lori Meisner Cleland, president and creative director, summed it up this way, “Walter is a fun client because we never know what he’s going to come up with next. We love bringing his ideas to life.”

© 2007 Visage Creative Business Services, Inc.

Client Kudos | Create the Space

Thanks, Nancy! You can see more of Nancy’s business and web site (which we also designed) at www.createthespace.com.

Client Spotlight | Sharper Image Landscaping

To DIY or not to DIY?

There’s a time to do it yourself and there’s a time to call in the professionals. For those who lack the ability or desire to do their own landscaping, take heart. The subject of our current client spotlight, Sharper Image Landscaping Services, LLC, just might be the cure for your landscape woes. The Chandler, Arizona-based company handles residential and commercial landscape maintenance and installation. They are Desert Botanical certified, meaning they have had extensive training in desert plants and their care, but their services extend to all types of plants and other outdoor amenities such as irrigation, hardscapes (BBQs, firepits, pillars), and lighting – just to name a few.

The Challenge
SI had a growing business even before calling Visage. They also had a logo and a few scattered marketing pieces. But, in order to take their business to the next level, they needed a cohesive look that measured up to the visual attractiveness suggested by their name and the professionalism inherent in their philosophy.

As far as marketing collateral to go with their new image, SI had a tall order to fill. The two sides of their business meant they had both a commercial and a residential audience to reach – two different groups with different needs and questions. For each target group, they would not only require something to give potential clients they met with in person, but also something that could be mailed out. Like any savvy business, they were looking for maximum cost effectiveness. Also high on the list was a flexible piece – they wanted the ability to offer coupons or seasonal promotions and other time-sensitive material without their entire marketing collateral becoming dated and unusable.

All this meant that it was SI’s turn to call in the experts. A friend of the owners recommended they call Visage.

Cost Effectiveness Meets Creativity
Sharper Image presented Visage with their wish list, and we rose to the challenge. First, we integrated their existing logo into a more professional level of branding. We then found a creative solution to meet their needs for attractive, informational, flexible and cost-effective marketing collateral. The answer came in the form of a 6×9 inch presentation folder. Smaller and sleeker than a standard folder, this is the perfect size for mailing in a standard #10 envelope or simply handing to an interested party. The folder is filled with a cover letter and pages on different topics – reasons for choosing SI, services offered, the partnership that began the company, etc. SI can easily tailor the piece to any audience, whether residential or commercial. As the business grows, they can add or replace pages without having to reprint an entire brochure. Finally, Visage created a promotional postcard and a mailing label (which fits both envelopes and packages) that reflects SI’s new business identity.





© 2006 Visage Creative Business Services, Inc.

Branding Basics | Part 1: Branding to Sell

Q | How can you set yourself apart?
A | Branding

So you’re in business. You know what makes your company great and why people should choose you over anyone else. But do your potential clients know that? In a marketplace flooded with products and services of every imaginable description, you have to stand out in order to survive. How can you set yourself apart?

The answer is branding. A company’s branding is a unique identifier like a signature or fingerprint. Good branding sends an intentional message. The more ways you send your message, the stronger your branding. By reiterating that message – in everything from advertising campaigns to the look of your storefront to the packaging of your product or results of your service – you make your voice a little louder and a little more likely to be heard above the din.

Your branding message should include more than just the black-and-white description of the type of business you’re in. It should be the emotional connection that keeps customers coming back. Look at the marketing strategies of Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Neither company distinguishes itself through difference in physical properties (neither claims to be sweeter, more bubbly, have a higher concentration of “cola” flavor, etc.), but each has a very different “feel” when it comes to their branding. For example, Coca-Cola portrays itself as “classic” with a logo that has changed very little since the product’s inception over a century ago. Pepsi, on the other hand, reconfigures its logo every few years and markets itself as being for the “next generation.” I would venture to guess that most consumers’ loyalty to either product is based as much (or more) on identification with the brand as it is on taste.

Your company, whether large or small, is – intentionally or unintentionally – sending a message. What is it saying? What would you like it to say? The key is to let everyone know what sets you apart by broadcasting your message through branding.

Stay tuned for “Part 2 | Selling your Brand”

© 2006 Visage Creative Business Services, Inc.

Client Kudos | Desert "Cool" Foods, Inc.

"We have been working with Visage Creative since 2002. Their service levels are exceptional only to be superseded by their creative work. Visage Creative is a go-to company." ~ Walter E. Barker, President & CEO, Desert “Cool” Foods , Inc.

Quiz: What is a logo?

So, just what is a logo?

a) a picture that represents a company
b) an organization’s name in a certain font
c) a combination of words and symbols that an entity uses for self-representation
d) any of the above
e) none of the above

Answer: D

A logo can be any of those things. In general, you can think of a logo as a symbol made up of text (employing specific spacing, color and font) that may or may not have a graphical element associated with it. Contrary to popular belief, you CAN have a logo without any kind of picture, icon or graphic outside of the text. (For example, Google, the New York Times and Pottery Barn all have logos that are strictly text.) However, many logos do include both, like those of the Olympic Games, Pepsi and, of course, Visage Creative. Some businesses have an “icon version” of their logo that is just a graphical element. (Think of Nike’s swoosh, McDonald’s golden arches or Target’s bullseye.) There are logos to represent businesses, individuals, brands, bands, products, political campaigns, universities, committees, events, organizations and even cities.

© 2006 Visage Creative Business Services, Inc.

Client Kudos | The Professional Pen

"I needed to develop a brand and identity for my new business. I wanted an image that was edgy yet still very professional. Visage Creative came up with a unique look that truly captured the essence of my business. They created a distinctive, cohesive style and feel for my logo, business cards, letterhead and website. I highly recommend Visage Creative for anything related to visual communications." ~ Melissa Sanford, www.theprofessionalpen.com

Client Kudos | Healing Chi Therapeutic Bodyworks

"I've had the pleasure of working with Visage Creative on a number of projects ranging from business card design to complete web site development. What has impressed me most is their attention to detail and ability to deliver a quality product. Other companies I've dealt with in the past can't even hold a candle to the amazing work the Visage team does. I feel so strongly about the work they do, I've referred several of my business contacts to them." ~ Steve Miller, DMT, Healing Chi Therapeutic Bodyworks