The Principles of Quality

May 31, 2011 by Leave a comment

Quality isn't easyQuality has always been an experience for customers as well as for those of us working on the products. There are definitions of quality that we studied while getting trained in six sigma and TQM methods. But as we practiced quality through working on the production floor, one thing that stood out was that when we did “good” work, it always was an “experience” to the customer and, more importantly, to us. When you produce a quality product, you feel “good”.

I could not define quality, so I delved into some reading and came up with  interesting quotes, one defining it from a negative perspective.

Any person of any philosophic persuasion who sits on a hot stove will verify without any intellectual argument whatsoever that he is in an undeniably low-quality situation: that the value of his predicament is negative. This low quality is not just a vague, woolly-headed, crypto-religious, metaphysical abstraction. It is an experience. It is not a judgment about an experience. It is not a description of experience. The value itself is an experience. As such it is completely predictable. It is verifiable by anyone who cares to do so. It is reproducible.

From “Lila” by Robert Pirsig

Read more of this post

Filed under outsourcing Tagged with ,

SMBs and Online Marketing

May 26, 2011 by 3 Comments

Facebook Page designed by Affinity Express for BNOW DentaleMarketer recently reported results of a survey of online marketing tactics by SMBs with the headline: “For Small-Business Marketers, Are Fewer Channels Better?”

The gist of the article is that use of online tactics by SMBs has increased tremendously since 2010, but the effectiveness of these tactics has decreased. For example, 86% have a website in 2011 compared to 52% in 2010, but the reported effectiveness of the company website has gone down from 68% to 64%.

eMarketer explains this phenomenon thus:

A rush of small businesses to new marketing channels can mean that less experienced respondents are now reporting on the effectiveness of their efforts, which would naturally be lower than those who have been using a channel for many years. In addition, some small businesses could be overreaching by trying to tackle too many channels at once, without the necessary time and resources.

Read more of this post

Filed under interactive Tagged with , , ,

Happy Geek Pride Day

May 25, 2011 by Leave a comment

"she's geeky" (I'm geeky)Star Wars may have passed me by, but I’m a self-professed geek. (In school, I had thick glasses and reading was my favorite past-time, unlike my more cool friends.) 

So let’s wave our geek flags high today and catch a Hitchhiker’s movie tonight (or get in bed with your favorite Terry Pratchett, whatever grabs you.)

And of course, check out these embroidery digitizing and vector artwork designs from our team.

Read more of this post

Filed under graphics Tagged with , , , ,

It’s Spring: Ads and Designs for the Season

May 24, 2011 by 2 Comments

Somewhat like fashion, advertising sees seasonal trends. We get deluged with orders right before the holiday season, for example, and we wrote about Easter-themed advertising last month.

Now that it’s spring, our designers are working on ads and designs that reflect the change in season: so more of outdoor activities such as gardening and soccer, and lots of blue skies and flowers, and of course, no more snow.

Print ad for fishing

Read more of this post

Filed under advertising Tagged with , ,

Designing Multiple Pieces of Marketing Collateral for a Brand

May 18, 2011 by 6 Comments

When Affinity Express first became a sponsor of Go Red For Women, we offered our design services free of charge and thought we might help the organization with invitations or maybe a flyer or two. Little did we know that we would ultimately produce more than 100 pieces! We started in November by updating educational materials to demonstrate our capabilities and ended by providing all of the local support for the big annual event on February 25, 2011 to complement materials provided by the national organization. In fact, during the week before the luncheon, we completed approximately 40 designs.
 
The fundraising efforts were a tremendous success (the campaign total to date is just over $900,000), but what made our contributions effective was the way we took an established logo and national design requirements, and built upon them to set the Chicago chapter of Go Red for Women apart. It is an excellent example of how to create materials for your clients that are true to their brand while increasing effectiveness and satisfaction by interpreting that style in new and innovative ways.
 
Affinity Express Senior Designer for Marketing Mel Fernandez was responsible for all of these designs and has advice for designers who need to develop and execute these types of campaigns (and providers who want to grow beyond delivering individual products to capture a greater share of business from clients).

Filed under marketing communications Tagged with , , ,

Street Source Completes First Year, Changing 23 Lives Forever

May 13, 2011 by Leave a comment

Street Kids International (SKI) and its partner Project Concern International (PCI) have completed the recruitment, training and placement phase of the Street Source project. To date, 23 youth in Pune, India participated in the pilot program, 13 have been placed with employers and six are actively seeking employment. All youths were placed through the efforts of PCI. They acquired good jobs in fields such as accounting, data entry, reception, marketing, and call centers and proved their capabilities and intelligence. More than 40 training sessions were completed in spoken English, time management, budgeting, having a positive attitude, job atmosphere, interview skills and resume preparation, so they are capable of performing any type of job. The training and placement process has been reviewed as very positive by all of the parties and many useful recommendations for improvements have been made by the youth, trainers and employers.

Affinity Express Supports Street Source

Participants in the Street Source Program

Read more of this post

Filed under announcements Tagged with ,

Redesigning Business Cards to Include Social Media Info

May 10, 2011 by 6 Comments

So my post on business cards made Kelly wonder why we weren’t including social media URLs in our business cards. (In my defense, I had suggested it, and we decided to revisit it next time we wanted to get new business cards printed. Yeah, working mostly online also means I don’t get to use them as often as I’d like.)

Anyway, Kelly suggested that a) we redesign our business cards to include our social media info, and b) that the three of us in marketing be the first to get the new business cards before rolling them out to the rest of the company. Wheeee!

So Kelly, Mel (who’s our fantastic designer) and I put our heads together (virtually, of course) and had a nice long, argumentative discussion on how we want our new business cards to look. Mel had to make a few studies so Kelly and I could agree on the one we all preferred (no easy feat, because Kelly and I seem to have very different views about design. She mentioned yesterday that she can predict which design of a set I’ll pick as it’s always the one she likes least–probably because we are each other’s devil’s advocate so often!)

Now if you want to add (like we did) your blog URL, Facebook page, Twitter profile and LinkedIn company page (and maybe some other social media profile you have) on top of your website URL, phone and fax numbers, physical address, and logo (not to speak of your name and job title), that card isn’t going to look pretty unless you get creative. Read more of this post

Filed under marketing communications Tagged with , ,

Happy Mother’s Day

May 8, 2011 by 1 Comment

Have you called your mother today?

Here are some print ads that our clients are using for their Mother’s Day promotions (with a little help from us). Tell me which you like best!

Mother's Day ad with tulips

Read more of this post

Filed under advertising Tagged with , ,

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

May 5, 2011 by Leave a comment

Here are some Mexican-themed embroidery digitizing and vector artwork designs created by our team for various restaurants.

Embroidery digitizing and vector artwork Mexico-influenced designs

Filed under graphics Tagged with , , ,

How to Be an Effective Conference Call Participant

May 4, 2011 by 1 Comment

Conference callI’ve mentioned before that the virtual world at Affinity Express means we have many conference calls on a range of topics all week long. In another post, I suggested ways to structure and lead these sessions to produce results as the organizer or facilitator. Today, I wanted to take a different angle and cover ways to improve the experience for you as a participant and for the rest of the team.

Prepare

Read agendas, project lists and other documentation sent out ahead of the meeting. Scanning material while trying to listen means you are not giving your full attention to the conversation and you missed the opportunity to ask questions or get clarifications prior to everyone dialing in. That wastes time and leads to longer, repetitive calls that waste everyone else’s time. Recently, I was in a meeting where a salesperson brought up a new product that was under consideration for development. It was clear he did not listen the last time or read the minutes because he was actively selling it when we de-prioritized the offering. We had to “remind” him that we were not moving forward. That was ten minutes of our lives we’ll never get back! Read more of this post

Filed under outsourcing Tagged with , ,

5 Design Mistakes Email Marketers Still Make

May 2, 2011 by 6 Comments

As an email marketer, I regularly seek out advice for creating better campaign emails. I know there is still a lot I could improve if I had the resources (time, for one!), but I try to do the best job I can. And some of the most basic and effective of all that advice is pretty easy to implement.

Which is why it surprises me when I get an email that flouts a “rule” that I’ve read about for some years. So here are some mistakes marketers are still making with email. Make sure you’re not one of them! Read more of this post

Filed under interactive, marketing communications Tagged with , ,

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 462 other followers