Creative – Page 3 – Treefrog Inc.

Two people working and pointing at a laptop.

5 Steps to Creating Knockout Content Campaigns

admin / May 13, 2016

An effective content campaign can help your company reach new audiences and generate more sales leads. Learn how to build focused, impactful content campaigns that will resonate with your customers

It’s common knowledge that content marketing is what drives traffic to websites, improves a site’s search engine optimization (SEO) rankings, and generates sales leads. But how do you use content effectively to do that? And what’s the difference between content marketing and a content campaign?

Content marketing encompasses many types of content including blogs, email broadcasts, social media posts, pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements, podcasts and videos, e-newsletters, and more. Its purpose is straightforward: to create and share content for free that is informative and entertaining, and helps your firm build trust with readers so they will become your customers.

In general, content marketing is designed to draw people to your website and entice them into your sales funnel. It’s the most critical ingredient in the commercial digital marketing stew. According to a 2015 poll of marketers conducted by Smart Insights, 29.6% ranked content marketing ahead of all other marketing techniques in importance, including marketing automation (12.8%), mobile marketing (11%), social media marketing (8.9%), and PPC marketing (3%).

A content campaign is a long-term, focused effort to drive awareness of your company and its services, or to change an impression people have of your company with content you have created that centres on a single topic.

Your content campaigns are not sales pitches. They contain targeted, relevant, useful information that is designed to educate or answer your readers’ questions. They address specific issues that your desired audience cares about while positioning your company as a thought leader in your industry. For example, a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning company may launch a content campaign each autumn explaining to homeowners how they should winter-proof their homes to help reduce their energy bills.

How to Build an Impactful Content Campaign

At one time, some companies would produce irrelevant, forgettable content stuffed with keywords as a means of spiking their SEO rankings. Thankfully, that methodology has fallen by the wayside. Now, search engines determine their rankings based on both keywords and valuable content.

There are five steps you need to take to develop a useful and impactful content campaign:

Be credible. Building trust demands credibility. That is to say, readers (or consumers) are more inclined to trust a company that consistently provides positive, personal experiences, quality products, useful information, and which responds to problems when they arise quickly and transparently.

Serve your audience with knowledge. Understanding quality, relevant content is the glue that holds your company’s sales funnel together, give your audience what they value: answers to questions they may have. Do it well, and you’re more likely to increase your sales in the short- and long-term.

Use keywords strategically. Using a select number of keywords is useful but don’t rely on them solely. From an SEO point of view, it’s important to use them to help people find your content, but keywords alone won’t help you create fantastic content that will resonate with people. It’s also critical to understand that SEO techniques are useless without meaningful content. Content is the foundation on which SEO sits.

Tap into your team’s creativity. Brainstorm with your colleagues and come up with interesting topics for content campaigns that will capture both your existing customers’ and desired prospects’ attention. Sometimes, you can discover terrific topic ideas simply by scouting Twitter hashtags relevant to your business or targeted audience.

Define what your goals are. What is the objective of your content campaign? Is it simply to give sales a boost? Then ponder how a content campaign can achieve that since using content to make a blatant sales pitch rarely works. Is it to increase email subscribers? Now flip the question and ask yourself, “how will someone who reads your content benefit from it? What matters to your targeted audience?”

Measuring the Results

After you’ve published your content and run the campaign, analyze the results to see what worked and what didn’t. Make changes where required, then begin anew. Bear in mind that determining a return-on-investment (ROI) on your content campaigns is not a straightforward calculation, and don’t lose sight of the big picture: you’re playing the long game with content. It’s a brand-builder, it inspires trust, and it helps position your company as an industry leader.

When measuring results to determine the ROI, you first need to know:

How valuable each new visitor to your website is and the length of time they spend at your site
How valuable is improving your visibility on Google
What the worth is of new visitors to specific product pages on your company’s site
The level of importance to place on the growing number of your social followers

Are you looking for a digital marketing partner to help you grow your company’s sphere of influence, and in turn, its revenues? We can help. Tell us what you want to achieve and let’s get started positioning your business as an authority in your industry.

Tips for Writing Impactful Content

admin / March 24, 2016

Your content needs to be thought-provoking, meaningful, and it must resonate with your target audience

The power of online publishing is such that every company is a media company nowadays, but is your company producing engaging and informative content?

According to data from the Nielsen Norman Group, you have less than one minute to entice a visitor to your website to stick around and explore. That’s not a lot of time to inspire rapt attention. If your site’s content doesn’t affect or appeal to its intended audience instantly and in an intellectual or emotional way, they’ll quickly lose interest, and you will lose business.

There are theories as to why and how cringeworthy content resides on so many business websites. It could be because of the oft-repeated “content is king” cliché that’s bandied about with wild abandon by marketing cheerleaders induces people to produce content for content’s sake. (Don’t do this) Or it’s possible business owners and decision-makers don’t want to pay a professional writer to help them. Regardless, if brands want to be successful publishers and use content to create relationships and up sales leads, they need to produce clear but compelling content consistently, and ensure it’s optimized for social media sharing.

Whether you’re writing for a corporate website, a blog, company e-newsletter, an advertisement, or emails to your customers, on the web, and especially in a world that’s increasingly dialled in via a mobile device, you have mere seconds to make that connection with your readers.

In general, there appears to be four content- or writing-related errors many brands make online:

Their content is poorly written and full of grammatical or spelling errors
The language used is sheer flimflam or gibberish, and it’s not the language their customers use
It offers no new perspectives or fails to recommend a solution to readers’ problems
It’s a standalone piece of work that’s not part of an overall content marketing strategy

Ergo if you’re scratching your head wondering why your website and marketing efforts aren’t bringing home the bacon, it could be because your content lacks sizzle, or it completely misses the mark.

“Words can be like X-Rays if you use them properly – they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.”
– ALDOUS HUXLEY

There are many good reasons that you should consider hiring a professional writer to help you and your team consistently produce quality blogs, marketing materials, and website copy. These may include:

Writing isn’t your forte. Writing is hard work and writing well doesn’t come naturally or easily to a lot of people. There’s no shame in that. But if you forgo investing in a professional writer to help concisely articulate what it is you do, and the value your company provides to your customers and potential customers, you’re essentially handicapping your business. Nothing scorns the prospect of new business and potentially damages your company’s reputation than a website rife with bad or unnecessary copy.
You’re busy running your business. Undoubtedly, managing or running a business swallows up most of your waking hours. As a decision-maker or business leader, do you have the time to write website copy, advertising copy, blogs, social media content, case studies, white papers, and press releases? Chances are you don’t.
You lack objectivity. In other words, you’re the DNA your business needs to survive, but you’re so close to the heart of it, and so knowledgeable, you simply can’t write effectively about it to your target audience. Sometimes, we need a friend or colleague to point out to us that which we cannot readily identify. When it comes to writing content about your firm or industry, the same truth applies. It could be that something your company does which might seem trivial or unimportant to you may be what dazzles and delights your customers.
Your approach to marketing is flawed. You need to know who your target audience is, what they care about and the issues they need to solve, and how your products and services can help them overcome their challenges and reach their goals. But are all of your marketing efforts in-synch? Are your marketing campaigns tied to achievable goals? Are you speaking the language of your customers and leveraging search engine optimization (SEO) best practices in order to ensure your website ranks high in organic searches? Your marketing messages (in whatever form) need to be as smooth as silk and should feature a takeaway or call-to-action that matters to your audience. In general, it’s critical to understand that writing or producing content is but one important part of a holistic marketing strategy.

The Quality of Your Content Impacts Your Site’s Performance

Professional wordsmiths hang on every word they write. They agonize over every sentence and they analyze and assess how those words read, sound, and flow from one paragraph to the next. They rely on keyword analysis and recommended SEO best practices when choosing words to craft a sentence. It can be time-consuming, but it’s a wholly valuable and worthwhile exercise.

A well-designed website with high-quality images and photos and intuitive navigation is important. But don’t let these things overshadow your site’s readability. Content and messaging that’s clear, simple, and bold will increase the number of visitors to your website. It builds trust, positions you as a thought leader, and in turn, leads to conversions whereby prospective customers will have conversations with you about how your services can help them. To quote Mark Twain, “use the right word, not its second cousin.” Indeed.

But it isn’t solely a matter of choosing the right words. It’s also important to ably express what your business is all about, and what challenges you help your customers overcome. Doing so across all of your digital marketing channels will help your business stand out from others in online search rankings, and swell your social media follower count.

Consider these six do’s and don’ts when thinking about drafting content for your website:

Do use a dictionary, the spellcheck feature in your word processing software, and have one or two people proofread your content before posting it live online to ensure there are no spelling and grammar errors. Read your content aloud to catch errors. If it doesn’t sound right, it probably isn’t.
Do write with authority and write for your audience. No one knows your company and its products and services better than you. Let your knowledge and confidence show.
Do produce fresh content regularly. It works wonders for your website SEO rankings by keeping your brand front and centre, establishing you and your team as industry thought leaders, and it will keep people coming back to your site to read more.
Don’t use fanciful, flowery words to promise everything under the sun and then underperform. It’s the opposite you need to shoot for. Under-promise and then exceed your customers’ expectations.
Don’t use meaningless strings of keyword-stuffed jargon. Use plain language to get your message across sensibly and clearly articulate to your customers the value of your firm’s products and services.
Don’t write excessively long marketing content, especially online. On one hand, it’s important to share your breadth of knowledge and expertise with useful, in-depth information. On the other hand, mobile computing and the Internet is changing how we consume the written word so dispense with unnecessary verbiage. You need to find the right balance between producing quality content efficiently without shortchanging your readers by being too vague.

We hope you’ve found this list of ideas for injecting content marketing into your business helpful.

Not sure where to start? Have writer blocks when it comes to content marketing? Get in touch with us. Our experienced team knows how to make your marketing materials sing.

Digital Marketing

Do Keywords Still Matter?

admin / March 5, 2015

Anyone who’s been following developments in the SEO world may be quick to say things like “keywords are dead.” Well, that’s just ludicrous. How can content be king and keywords not matter? Keywords are, in fact, words. Is content not made from words?

You know what is dead? Keyword stuffing and gaming search engines. Search engines surpassed human intelligence like… two years ago. SEO’s don’t game the system anymore. Those that do are beheaded by Google. And then Bing comes along afterwards and gives their beheaded corpses a kick in the bum.

There’s a fundamental difference between keywords for search engines’ sake, and keywords for users’ sake. But there shouldn’t be. Content should be created for users first, there’s no doubt. But there’s also no reason that content can’t also perform well from a search engine ranking standpoint.

Keyword Optimization: The Modern Filing System

Here’s an extremely basic explanation. Think of a search engine as a database, and your website as a file within that database. If your website doesn’t contain the words that someone is searching for, how will it ever be found?

Even more basic: what do you do when you file papers into folders and put them in a filing cabinet? You’d organize the papers by topic, and then label the folders with that topic, right? Think of including keywords and optimizing your webpage somewhat like labeling the topic so that it’s easier to find. On the other hand, if you’re like me you just stack everything together and dump it into the filing cabinet in a huge papery mass. If I need that piece of paper later, I simply try to forget the reason I needed it in the first place, and then move on with my life.

Don’t be Stuffy: Write for User’s Sake

Back in the day, SEOs used to beat the keyword/labeling concept to death. They’d repeat a select keyword numerous times on a page — to the point of annoyance — rendering the page text unreadable. Well, this doesn’t cut it anymore. Actually, it didn’t cut it in 2011.

So what can you do? Luckily, there are still some tried and true tactics to content building that you can employ to help with search engine visibility. Search engines still pay attention to your META page title. They still pay attention to headings and on-page content that is relevant to your topic. They still pay attention to the intended visibility of your webpage; that is, whether you have it prominently displayed and/or linked from a site-wide menu. They pay attention to whether that page is distributed on social media, and whether people click on it and read it. They care about how many other websites are linked to your content, and whether those websites are relevant to the topic. Search engines also care about relevance, and user engagement. Actually they care about this last one most of all.

You need to also keep competition in mind. For example, do your competitors have a page on their website that is ranking well for the topic you’re planning to write? Are those competitor pages written well? Do your competitors have a large social media presence? If so, then it will be much more difficult for your content to rank. It’s not that your content isn’t as good or better, it’s just that your competitors may have been at the game longer.

“Play the Long Game: Think Like the Mighty Tortoise”

Will your new webpage take a long time to start performing well? Sure it will. In some cases, it will take six months or longer. You can jump-start the page’s visibility by sharing it on social media. If you have a client e-mail list (people who have opted-in, of course!) then throw a teaser blurb about your content in there and link to it. Link to it from other pages on your website, and make the anchor text in-line with the topic heading.

All of the above tactics can be factored into your content, and you’ve not had to stuff one keyword. You’ve simply selected a relevant topic to write about, and you’ve done all the right things to make sure it will eventually rank well when someone researches that topic. The fact that the topic contains what could be defined as a “keyword” is merely coincidental.

So, do keywords still matter? They certainly do, if they are used for the right reason. Keep in mind: users first. Organizing the keywords and optimizing the page is really only making the job of the search engine less difficult. But the whole reason you’re doing this is to get more eyes on your content, and then get those eyes to convert into sales.

Actually, you want the people to convert into sales. Actually, you want the people to remain people, and buy stuff from you willingly. You get the idea.

Need help? It just so happens that Treefrog is in the business of getting your users to convert into sales. We’re here for you!

A man's hands hold drawn mock ups of a website design

Branding & Design

What is Graphic Design?

admin / December 31, 2014

101 Information

Graphic design is art with a purpose. It involves a creative and systematic plan to solve a problem or achieve certain objectives, with the use of images, symbols or even words. It is visual communication and the aesthetic expression of concepts and ideas using various graphic elements and tools.

Elements of Graphic Design

Graphic design can use image-based designs involving photos, illustrations, logos and symbols, type-based designs, or a combination of both techniques. These designs can include various combinations of the following elements.

Lines: Straight, curved, wavy, thick, thin – when it comes to lines, the possibilities are limitless. Lines allow designers to divide a space or separate content in a layout. They can also be used to guide the eyes of the viewer, or make other elements follow a strategic path for added findability, to get the viewer easily from point A to point B.

Shapes: Shapes offer a variety of ways to fill spaces creatively, to support text and other forms of content, and to balance a design. Shapes can be created out of nothing, using white space to give a design structure and clarity.

Colour: Colour, or the absence of colour, is an important element of any visual design. With a solid understanding of colour theory, designers can amazingly influence a design and a brand, seamlessly integrating colour boldly or with brilliant subtlety.

Type: Type can transform a message from mere text to a work of art. Different fonts, combined with customized alignments, spacing, size, and colour, can add power to the point you are communicating to the world.

Texture: Even a smooth and glossy advertisement can seem tangible with texture. It gives a sense of a tactile surface through its visual appearance and adds a sense of depth, enhanced by selection of appropriate paper and material.

Tools of Graphic Design

Professional designers possess a creative mind with an artistic inclination, and so much more. Keen observation skills and analytical thinking are essential tools for graphic designers, before they dig into their physical tool kit and touch pen to paper or stylus to tablet. Designers employ a variety of methods to combine art and technology to communicate a particular message and create an impressive visual.

Sketchpads: A traditional tool used to sketch out ideas; it is the quickest way to jot down the rough designs, which designers can develop further using other tools and technologies.

Computers: Computers now occupy an essential place in every designer’s tool kit. Hardware such as tablets allow designers to expand their creative freedom and maintain that sketchpad feel while creating a digital design.

Software: Technology has opened new doors for realizing creative vision. Specialized software such as Illustrator and Photoshop can help to create illustrations, enhance photographs, stylize text, and synergize all of the pieces in incredible layouts.

Graphic Design communicates your brand and message visually with impressive business logos, enchanting brochures, newsletters with impact, and stunning posters.

Let the professional graphic designers at Treefrog Inc. turn your dreams and ideas into realistic revelations.

We have provided countless clients with beautiful, eye-catching graphic design work, but don’t just take our word for it! Let’s Talk.

Branding & Design, Digital Marketing

What is Corporate Identity?

admin / December 31, 2014

…and Why is it Important?

The concept of corporate identity is akin to what we refer to when we talk about our own identity, the specifics that differentiate us from others. It is our personality and character that maintains our individuality, which we express through how we behave, speak, and even what we wear.

Similarly, a business makes itself distinct through the image that it presents to the world, through collateral like business cards, letterheads, brochures and other options. It is a physical expression of the company’s brand, an extension of the culture that is already expressed through communication style and behaviour exhibited to maintain the image of the business.

Corporate Identity expresses your business’s brand personality and sets you apart from the competition.

The Importance of Corporate Identity

In a fast-paced and competitive world where the consumer has innumerable options available to them, a company needs a strategy to establish a solid presence in the marketplace. There are strong reasons to believe that the right corporate identity helps achieve this business objective.

Building Corporate Persona: When we meet a person, it is the first impression that has the most impact. We tend to gather cues from what we see and feel, interpreting our observations to form our opinion about the person. This is also how we treat products and companies. To stand out from their competitors, every company needs to have a good brand image, to create a niche in the client’s mind by having a unique, pleasing appearance and identity.

Consumer Loyalty: The consistent design of a corporate identity, in accordance with objectives set for the business, uphold and reflect the ethos, culture, principles, future ambitions, or visionary goals of the business. Customers who find this to be in accordance with their philosophy and liking feel connected to this image and are more likely to develop loyalty to the business.

Business Enhancement: Personal experiences with a corporate identity influence consumers and their purchasing decisions. A corporate identity with a strong and positive impact creates a favorable mental image of the business in a consumer’s mind. A strategically planned identity gives a good return in terms of referrals and repeat business.

Businesses may occasionally need to update their corporate identity, if there is an ideological change in the target audience over time and as the world changes. Design professionals can help with attention grabbing logos, impressive business cards, elegant letterheads, inviting envelopes, stunning brochures and other identity elements. Invest in your corporate identity to develop trust, a sense of value, and a lasting connection with your customer base.

Branding & Design

The Power of Print

admin / December 31, 2014

Pack a Punch with Professional Print Design

If the web is a superhero in today’s marketing strategies, then print design is a trusty sidekick with its own unique set of talents and strengths. Often lost in the shadow of the ever-available Internet, it’s time to rediscover that sometimes the sidekick can be the one who saves the day.

Let Print Design Reveal Your Website’s Secret Identity

Your website might be the most powerful marketing tool Metropolis can ever hope to see, but unlike most superheroes, it can’t have a secret identity. You want the world to know exactly where to find your site so you can solve the problem by providing the products or services that are needed. Print materials unmask your website by driving traffic to it. From business cards to billboards, you can use print materials to maximize your investment in your website, creating an unbeatable dynamic duo for your marketing plan.

The Boy Wonder of Branding

Superheroes know branding. Whether they are famous for the bat signal in the sky, the letter “S” on their costume, or maybe for a “Holy Classic Catchphrase”, their trademarks are recognized for generations. Print design can make your logo and tagline, the personality of your brand, just as pervasive. Get instant recognition in your target audience and infuse the marketplace with your message and your mark using posters, postcards, brochures, trade show displays and signage.

Print Takes Your Marketing Strategy “To Infinity and Beyond!”

Print design may be seen as a sidekick in our digital world, but its power and effectiveness also stand strong alone. Print materials are tangible and tactile. Who can resist turning the glossy pages of a magazine or catalogue? These temptations are marketing kryptonite to consumers everywhere. Get their spidey senses tingling for your product with strategically placed ads in newspapers and magazines to promote special offers and send seasonal reminders.

If you have been dazed by digital, try putting the power of print to work for your business and “Pow!” “Blam!” your business will become a super power to beat all the competition.

Digital Marketing, Web Design & Development

Site Architecture as a Writing Road Map

admin / December 31, 2014

Find your way to writing brilliant website content

Think of building your website like heading out on the highway for an exciting road trip to new business heights. You have web design experts to help you develop an architecture and design and to manage the programming. Now you need to fill it with content.

Content Writing Road Blocks

Content writing is a massive road block for many a new website owner. If you’ve been procrastinating, you’re not alone. In Treefrog’s experience, this is the number one stage of a web design project where clients get stuck at the side of the road, completely out of gas.

It surprises many – after all, who is more of an expert on your business than you? So why does it happen?

You’re so close to your own business, sometimes it’s hard to step back and see things from your client’s perspective.
You invest your time in running your business, you don’t have time to write about it.
You’re great at running your business. You don’t also have to be great at writing about it.

Site Architecture to the Rescue

There is a way out of the content writing wilderness. You just need the right directions, and you already have them.

Remember that site architecture and wireframe you approved at the beginning of your project? No? You’re not alone there either. The site architecture is not just for designers and programmers. It’s for YOU.

Your site architecture is a list of the pages you want and/or need on your website when it goes live. Like the step by step directions from your GPS navigator, the architecture is a checklist that will take you through your content writing journey.

“Like any map, your site architecture is a guideline. It offers a route to website success through a user friendly structure.”

Changing Content Directions

Like any map, your site architecture is a guideline. It offers a route to website success through a user friendly structure. There are some aspects that need to be followed, but you might find shortcuts or detours along the way that will improve it, as you see how your design and writing come together.

If you proposed a page at the beginning of your project that you no longer need, you have the power to take it out. If you realize you missed something, you have the power to add it in.

Stop and Ask for Directions

If all else fails, trust the experts. Content writers in web agencies not only understand your architecture, they understand how to write for the web so that Google and other search engines will find you. They will work with you to refine your message and guide you through the twists and turns of your website content.

Branding & Design

What’s in a logo

admin / December 30, 2014

Logo design, and for that matter brand design, are not cookie-cutter solutions.

Sure, an agency can state that they have stock imagery that gets “close” to a logo design that captures the essence of your business. That’s like trying to be authentic by hanging a box-store piece of art in your living room, knowing that somewhere out there, thousands of other living rooms are donning the same badge of “authenticity”.

At Treefrog, we’re very passionate about design. It’s what makes us unique. Our attention to artistic creativity and visual impact is what sets us apart from other agencies.

We are also passionate about defending the work that goes into good design.

There’s been an emergence of online stock design companies recently. These companies create tension in the market because it makes people think that a brand is something you can just choose and move on. As if you could pick your corporate identity off a shelf and carry it to the checkout line.

Why You Should Invest In Your Logo

What’s in a logo, really? It’s just a graphic that identifies your company brand. What’s so complicated about that? Anyone can create a logo. Right?

Some may think so, but then you have to ask yourself why so many high profile companies spend so much on logo design.

What makes a powerful company logo? Why do some logos stick out from others? What makes us remember them? If they’re so simple that just anyone could do them, then why doesn’t every company have an unforgettable logo?

Consider that your logo is a tactical piece of a brand. A logo is not a brand. If a company comes to Treefrog asking for a new brand, expecting only a new logo, we’ll challenge their thinking.

The fact is, if your company is in need of a brand revamp, you’re not going to fix the problem with a logo. Don’t confuse an iconic symbol of your business as being the entirety of your brand identity. There’s far more to the concept of brand than a logo.

That is not to say that a logo is not an important part of your brand; quite the contrary. This is partly because of the fact that people can immediately tell a shoddy logo from one that’s quality. Your logo can immediately cause people to identify your company as either slapdash, or serious. That’s a pretty powerful sentiment to leave people with as a first impression.

Ideally, the logo will convey a feeling. Maybe it’s powerful enough to spark a memory. It needs the depth of meaning in order to foster an emotional attachment with people.

Keep in mind that a brand encapsulates all the pieces that a company uses to communicate with the world; from business cards, letterhead, brochures, colour uses, typography and image choice. A logo is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to establishing a brand.

The Potato Factor

Gaby Hart, a faculty member at Georgian College for design, summed up logo design succinctly by saying: “A logo is a mark that a company can be remembered by; it should be so simple that you could draw it in the sand with a stick.”

In a similar vein, at Treefrog, we say that you should be able to cut your logo out of a potato. Think of all the things you want to do with your logo—feature it on print pages, your website, have it emblazoned on T-shirts and display it on trade show booth signs that need to be visible from hundreds of yards away. Who knows, you may actually want to have your logo in potato form.

Your logo should be able to stand out in a group of other logos listed on a partner webpage. It should be clear, definitive, and identifiable. There’s a lot of thinking that goes into the development of a logo, word mark or brand identity.

One of the many things we pride ourselves on as an agency is our personal touch. We want to spend time with you to understand your business and how you operate. Is the cost going to be higher than simply picking a logo off a shelf of dozens more like it? Sure. But you get the benefit of a team of experienced designers working with you on your brand rejuvenation.

We want to show off your logo as an emblem of our successful partnership. After all, the best logo designs are derived from collaboration, and a deep understanding of what makes your company unique.

Online Agencies: The Bargain Bin of Logo Design

Some wonder why there are agencies who charge premium amounts for logo design, when there are companies on the web kicking them out for a hundred bucks a piece. The question usually gets around to: what are you actually paying for in a logo design?

First of all, your business has its own unique identity, something that gives people the perception of character. You’ve put time and energy into your business and your brand. Would you really want to hire a stock logo company to shoehorn a look into your corporate identity? Think of it this way: who would you rather have write your autobiography, someone you know, or someone you just found online?

When your company wants a new logo, you have a few options.

1) You can go to a stock logo company.

Right away, the terms, conditions and deliverables are likely going to be different for each one you find. These companies often offer a fast turn around, and a handful of concepts for you to choose from. They may also allow you to make a number of revisions, depending on the price level you choose. Once approved, your logo may be sent to you in a variety of file formats that you will need for printing.

Where you may run into trouble: these are often online companies, i.e. they may not be locally based, so you can’t pop over to discuss your concept with the designer. They may even be in a completely different country, and there may be a language barrier. Discussing logos can often be a very abstract process and be quite an emotional experience. Email often doesn’t work when conveying emotion. Clients often cannot easily verbalize what is bugging them about a concept. A face-to-face meeting with a designer who can help you through the design jargon to focus in on the key areas can be very useful. Furthermore, with an online stock logo company, once you’ve maxed out your number of revisions, that’s it. If you’re not happy, then you have to pay for more revisions.

2) You can use a competitive design website.

These are sites where a client can post their project and the specifications and state how much they want to pay the designer. Designers then can “bid” on the job and post their ideas. After a predefined amount of time, the client then chooses which design they like most, pay the designer and the logo file is supplied.

Again, there are problems inherent in this method. This puts a lot of responsibility in the client’s hand, they have to be able to cohesively communicate the requirements of the project to a broad audience. A lot of people aren’t creatively minded, nor do they really know how to communicate what they really want. What you put in the brief will be taken literally by the designers on the site. If you’re not clear on what you want, then it’s highly likely that you won’t get what you want.

Also, since graphic design is not currently regulated by an authoritative body that checks that designers are at a particular level, ANYONE can post a design on a competitive design website. There is no regulation for quality or skill level. You may have to scroll through thousands of sub-par designs in the hope of finding your new logo. What if no one submits a design in response to your brief? That logo you desperately need will not get done until a designer, wherever they may be in the world, decides to do it.

As for revisions, it all depends on whether they were negotiated when you submitted the brief. The designer may provide the logo “as is” in which case you’d better be happy with what you got. Who knows whether the artwork file will even be constructed properly for a printer?

Here’s an analogy: imagine having a plumbing issue in your house. You know what’s wrong, but you don’t know the source of the problem. You describe the issue to the best of your ability on a website, say how much you’re willing to pay, and hit “submit”. Then you sit and wait for a plumber to come fix your problem. When (or more accurately if) that plumber arrives, you have no idea of their skill level, whether they are a legitimate plumber (maybe they do it part-time, maybe they’re a student!), whether they have any work experience and if they even know what they’re doing. The end result? Your plumbing issue might be fixed, or it might not, and you may have just flooded your house and be down $500.

3) You work with Treefrog or another Graphic Design/Branding company.

First off, you can go look at our website, get to know us, look at our portfolio of work, come meet with us and check that we’re real human beings. If you’re then happy to partner with us, you’ll soon be sitting down with our Art Director and a Designer to discuss your new logo, and the goals of your project. This is usually an in-person meeting and can be an hour or more of in-depth discussion about your company, your long term and short term goals, your likes and dislikes as well as your target market and applications.

After this meeting our designers will work on your logo. We have a team of designers and we will often work collaboratively on a project to refine ideas and come up with a wide range of concepts. Our designers have all had at minimum four years of Graphic Design training prior to working with Treefrog, and are all Graduates of recognized educational institutions. Our designers also have a wide range of skills, with backgrounds in illustration, fashion design, and editorial design—not to mention being skilled web designers. Our Art Director will work with the design team to refine your logo concepts until we’re sure they’re at the level of excellence that we aspire to here at Treefrog. These concepts will take into account your target market, the goals and future extensibility of the brand as well as adaptations for alternative printing techniques (such an embroidering on a T-shirt).

After presenting you with the concepts, we will plan another meeting, sometimes over the phone or in person (your choice) to discuss your thoughts on the presented ideas. We will then work closely with you to refine the logo concept to the final piece, until you are 100% happy. After the logo is approved we will save out a wide range of file formats and colour options to suit most, if not all possible ways that you may need the logo in the future. If you lose these files, we’ll always have backups to send to you if you need them.

At Treefrog, personality is very important. We know your company has a story, and we’d love to help you tell it. We also know that budget is a factor. But the good thing about working with an actual agency, is that we can work with you directly, and not expect you to have to conform to a rigid price structure or process for what should be a rewarding creative experience.

The point is, a brand and a logo are made up of so much more than just a stock image or your company name in a font.

What’s in a logo? You are.

Branding & Design

Professional Imagery: Why it is Important for Your Website

admin / December 30, 2014

As much as we all loathe to admit it, let’s face it: appearance is everything.

Humans are visual creatures hence what others see has an undeniable impact on our success. Images transcend language and words and allow for a greater understanding of whatever is being discussed. Since first impressions are formed within seconds and since most of the information we consume and interpret is visual, quality design can make your site and your brand stick in the viewer’s mind as professional and credible. This article will discuss why we’re image based, how you can benefit from this knowledge and what constitutes as a well-designed site.

Why are we so Image Based?

Our minds react differently to visual stimuli because the human brain deciphers image elements instantly, while language is decoded in a linear, sequential manner taking more time to process. Studies tell us that 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than text. “Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak” (Berger, Ways of Seeing, 1972). So unless our words, concepts, ideas are hooked onto an image, they will go in one ear, sail through the brain, and go out the other ear.

How can we Benefit?

A professional, modern looking website can immediately build trust and guide visitors to take action. When it comes to web copy, people rarely read a piece of content word for word. On the other hand, images stick with readers longer and are more likely to give you a greater return on your content investment. The design of a website is significant because it affects how quickly visitors can find what they are looking for. If navigating the website is difficult or frustrating, the visitor will leave and try on another site, resulting in a lost opportunity. A good design will be easy to understand and navigate, helping potential customers find what they need and taking you one step closer to making a sale or getting in touch.

What Constitutes a Good Design?

Effective design should convey a message, tell a story, and allow anyone to understand what you’re talking about. Several factors such as consistency, colours, photos and simplicity all contribute to a well designed site.

I Want My Site to Look Like Apple

A common request we get via our design questionnaires is; “I want my site to look like Apple’s”. So many people ask this because Apple Inc. is pretty much synonymous with classy design. Why does Apple’s design work? Here are just a few reasons:

Simplicity: Take a look at Apple’s homepage and don’t think about what you see, but what you don’t see. The answer of course is visual clutter. Specifically the homepage, which simply shows off their most recent work and provides you with a few easily understood categories to help you get to the information you want to see. Even if your company is not as ubiquitous, you can still use minimal but attractive design to increase usability.

Stunning product shots: One of Apple’s principle reasons for cutting back on superfluous graphics on their site is to really showcase what’s important: their products. Just look at the shots they use; it’s nearly impossible to look at a page on the Apple site and not have your eyes focus on the products for seconds on end. There are several things that make these products look so incredible. The first is that they are obviously pristine. Chalk this one up to digital imaging experts. The combination is a mixture of photography, 3D modeling and Photoshop. The next thing they do is to make them take up a huge portion of the page, which are overwhelmingly impressive.

Consistency: Apple’s general look or “brand essence” is applied across every single thing they design. It’s quite stunning when you realize how much their software actually looks like their hardware. You can’t get much more integrated.

Details: Apple is all about attention to detail. Every little piece of their site is finessed into perfection. Never fall into the trap of saying “no one will notice” or “good enough.” It is often the margin of time spent on the tiniest details that separate the good websites from the great ones.

Strong grid: Every page on Apple’s site adheres to a strict grid structure; whether simple or complicated, it’s there. There is a ton going on, but it somehow seems attractive instead of overwhelming. Breaking sporadic information up into manageable cells drastically reduces visual clutter and confusion.

Go Pro

Professional images capture authenticity. Photographs not only show the visitor what you offer, but can also make them want to act. People no longer just want to browse a website, they want to experience it. The bakery website www.cookieitup.com is full of quality, wholesome images of fresh cookies and natural ingredients. The tantalizing photos and custom illustrations make one want to rush over and buy a box (or five). A personal touch is the result which really speaks to the handmade aspect of the products. The simplicity and consistency of the images speaks to the quality of the product.

It’s simple: the more professional, compelling and enticing your site’s photography is, the more business you’ll conduct over time. We’re not just talking about pretty pictures, we’re talking about a way to visualize information in a simple way that makes sense to the client. Using good photography of your products and services will help you market to a much larger audience. Photos open your content up to a whole new audience through giving visitors the chance to share your imagery with friends and family. Bonus: shared images are basically free advertising. Professional photos can make your visitor understand your product or service more.

Stock Photography

The key to using stock photography is searching for unique and compelling images that are relevant to your brand and your message without looking cliché. Using the site www.octacom.ca as an example, we immediately recognize what the business does, based on the images alone. Depending on your budget you can choose to use all professional, all stock imagery or a mixture of both.

Team Photos Convey Culture and Consistency

Hiring a professional to take photos of your team in action will get you authentic results that will convey company culture and consistency. Your face is part of your brand, so a professional head shot will not only look flattering, but will also make your customer see you as more trustworthy, sincere, and well-practiced. These photos can also be used in places other than your website. You can use them all over your personal and professional social media accounts, such as LinkedIn and Facebook where profile pictures matter most.

If you are striving to be professional and knowledgeable in the workplace, then your website needs to reflect that. Using great design and quality photography is a necessity in this visual world. Great design should convey a message in an easy, simple way, transcend language barriers, provide a good summary of information, support and break down complex concepts, and take a fraction of a second to understand.

The next time you’re tempted to skimp on the professional graphic design, bear in mind that images go directly into long-term memory (words are processed by our short-term memory). They can be called upon when thinking about a particular business or company. Make sure your business conjures great images along with compelling content. Recognizing the importance of visual communication for your site is key to your success.