Cassette Label Prints by Neil Stevens

Print, Cassette, Illustration, Inspiration, label, posterc, print, reative

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:00:52 +0000

Neil Stevens is a creative illustrator and graphic artist based in St Albans and London. We previously featured his beautiful Flight Tag Prints, and now we’ve got something new to share. Spawned from the need to fill his loft studio wall space, Neil explored the graphics and layout of cassette inlay designs. Being inspired by his findings, he decided to revive the cassette labels as posters containing simple typography and block colors. The results are nothing short of awesome, and we hope you’ll feel the same. Enjoy!

 

Does Print Marketing Still Matter in the Digital Era?

Design, Business, Cost, importance, local, Marketing, Media, Personalization, power, print

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:33:34 +0000

This article was written for Inspirationfeed by Paul Kilminster. Paul has worked in the managed print services for several years and has seen how the industry has evolved to meet the challenges of digital marketing. He is currently the technical services director for Print and Digital Associates. Marketing, just like most other business strategies, is progressively developing along with technology. As technology develops, new modes of mass communication evolve and subsequently improve marketing. As a result, businesses are increasingly leveraging digital marketing at the cost of past marketing methods like print marketing. Although print marketing is viewed by some businesses as a thing of the past, a significant number of marketers are still using it to reach their target audience. Some of them have adopted it while others have continuously reported dreary results. Consequently, most business owners are left questioning the overall effectually of this marketing method compared to other strategies. Just like any other marketing strategy, print marketing has its benefits and disadvantages. Its effectiveness principally depends on how you employ it, your target market and the overall marketing goals. For instance, a business can transcendentally employ print marketing to reach out to the local audience. However, when it comes to the global audience, it is advisable to explore digital marketing methods. The Importance of Tangibility The chief benefit of print marketing is tangibility. In digital marketing, the target audience only gets a soft copy of the marketing message on their digital devices. That means it can be easily and promptly ignored, since most digital device users only pay attention to other elements in their devices. Print media on the other hand, is not as easily ignorable as digital media. Being tangible means that the writing is permanent. It cannot be obliterated or moved to the ‘trash’ folder. In fact, people always tend to pay more attention to hardcopy content compared to softcopy content. Reaching the Elderly Print marketing is also effective in expanding the target market. Although the internet is currently the single biggest platform for global convergence, not all types of people can be reached through it. The old age target market, for example, prefers sticking to the conventional mass communication methods like newspapers and magazines. To market to such a group therefore, one should leverage newspaper and magazine advertising as opposed to online marketing. The Power of Personalization The secret to marketing, as most marketing experts would advise, is personalization. A prospective customer can be easily converted by a personalized marketing message. Although personalization is possible in other marketing methods, it is incredibly expedient when using print marketing. Businesses can conveniently print and send personalized and attractive post cards and other printed media to their prospective customers. Although this may be relatively costly especially in big businesses, the ROI is considerably high. The Disadvantage of Cost Due to its numerous benefits, many businesses have considered relying on print media as their primary marketing strategy. Unfortunately, print marketing is arguably pricey compared to simpler digital marketing methods. Buying paper, ink, printing and distributing the printed material is noticeably costly especially in large businesses which are progressively expanding and increasing their scope on the target market. Small businesses are also being affected by the cost of print marketing especially since they always have relatively diminutive marketing budgets. The most effectual way of compensating a business for the expense is ensuring that the actual marketing is thoughtfully planned and efficaciously implemented such that the ROI is considerably high.

 

Blogger Failure – Why Does it Happen?

Blogging, bloging, comments, content, expectations, failure, Future, Objectives, planning, Resources, trackbacks

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:22:37 +0000

This article was written for Inspirationfeed by Chad Goulde. Chad works for The Blog Builders, they provide tips on creating blogs the right way. Nowadays, doesn’t it seem like there are just too many blog consultants out there? Have you already started your blog using WordPress or Blogger? Many bloggers start out in the fast lane, very excited about their blogs. Unfortunately, even more run out of gas before they even finish the race. You can actually avoid having a business blog that simply fizzles out. All you need is a clear understanding of the reasons bloggers fail. So, here are 5 reasons why many business blogs fail. 1. Not Defining Your Objectives It’s amazing how many company’s have their blogs set up by their IT team, without ever defining the key objectives. Then, weeks later, everyone’s wondering why the blog isn’t getting traffic. Is your goal to connect with your customers? Is your blog part of an SEO program to archive FAQs, newsletters, etc…? You must identify your main objectives for blogging. Then, create your promotion and content plans based on these goals. 2. Having Unrealistic Resources And Expectations It takes dedication and hard work to blog effectively. Business blogs showcase your company’s personality, while listening and responding to your online community. It takes much more than great SEO keywords to raise your search engine rankings. In order for your business blog to be successful, you’ll need access to resources, such as technology, processes and people. Set both long and short term goals, and track your accomplishments using reporting systems like Google Webmaster. Allocate various tasks and make sure everyone’s doing their part. Plan for your business blogging success. 3. Not Planning Future Content Editorial guides are great for keeping your blogging team on track. Many successful bloggers plan their editorial calendars on a monthly basis. So, you never run out of content to publish. Have your blog posts written by multiple people so that no one person has too much on his/her plate. Encourage your people to keep their eyes open for content ideas. Many blog post ideas can come from right inside your office. 4. Not Allowing Trackbacks and Comments Two of the biggest things that separates websites from blogs are trackbacks and comments. Many business blogs disallow both. Why? Because they believe they don’t have the resources to allocate someone to handle them. They also fear the things people may say. Whether good or bad, feedback has a way of starting a conversation, keeping visitors on your blog longer. You must also measure your feedback mechanisms using various analytics. Some of these include linkbacks, comment on other relevant blogs, social media marketing, RSS feed, searches conducted on your blog and web visitor analytics. These help you measure your online reach within your industry. 5. Attempting to Do It All Yourself Anyone can set up your business blog quite easily. But, it takes much more than just setting up your blog for it to be successful. Unless you’ve already created a successful blog yourself, you won’t know just how complicated blogging can be. This is especially true if you’re dedicated to providing excellent customer service and quality services or products. You simply may not have time to do both efficiently.

 

60 Philosophical Quotes on Life

Quotes, about, Inspiration, life, motivation, philosophical, quotes

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:08:58 +0000

Allow me to ask you a simple question. Have you ever thought about death? Go ahead, take a moment and really think about it. Picture yourself laying on a hospital bed, knowing that you only have a few more days to live. Just imagine that feeling. Overwhelming can’t even describe it. And to be perfectly honest, I can’t really pinpoint the perfect word to discribe it myself. Without getting into religion and personal dogma, I think it’s fair to conclude that death might be the biggest fear humans have. The only problem is that you cannot run away from this fear. Sooner of later you will have to face it. Many people say, “Why would I waste my valuable time thinking about death?” That’s a great point. However, facing it now and living you life to the fullest will enable you to thrive while you’re living on this planet. While you’re laying on the death bed, you brain will start playing the beautiful memories you’ve gathered in this life. Right after the heartwarming memories, your regrets will follow. So why in the world would you have regrets? “Don’t live your life through what ifs, live it with I knows.” - Marco Zuniga Now I completely understand that this might seem a bit depressing, but going through this process myself showed me: Exactly what my passions and desires are. What I should focus on while I’m alive. How I should use my time. Materialistic possessions are worthless in the end. I should help others as much as I can. Spend more time with family and friends. and much much more thought provoking questions. A great idea would be to accomplish all your wants now, so you won’t have to experience the awful feeling of regret at the end. Think deeply about all the things you wish to do, and write them down on a piece of paper. This sort of ‘bucket list’ should be viewed on a daily basis and will set you on the path you’re meant to take. Today we collected sixty philosophical quotes about life. While reading, be a sponge. Soak up all the messages/ideas presented. Next time when you catch yourself acting unreasonably, you’ll remember these quotes and saying. Enjoy!

 

New vs Old Media Billionaires [Infographic]

Infographics, billionare, content, infographic, internet, Media, new, News, old

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:06:53 +0000

The following infographic take a look at new versus old media billionaires and compares how many years it took them to get to where they are today. The first comparison that pops out at you is the Mark Zuckerberg vs Rupert Murdoch comparison. It’s pretty wild to see that it took Rupert over forty years to reach one billion, while Mark got there in three years! This demonstrates the eminent power of the internet. I’m sure if Rupert repeated his entire career with internet, computers, smartphones, and etc. being available, he would have matched or outdone Mark. News Corp would probably be the big daddy of media on the internet. Enjoy! From: Staff.com Check out more infographics: Best Days to Post on Facebook [Infographic] Will You Survive Doomsday? [Infographic] Startup Business Failure: What are the Chances? Best Practices to Design Emails [Infographic] Do You Commit These Silly Grammar Mistakes? We hope you enjoyed this infographic! For more useful content please don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS-feed and follow Inspirationfeed on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook! If you enjoyed the following article we humbly ask you to comment, and help us spread the word!