Advertising Online with Website Banner Ads

Chicago Advertising Agency

Chicago and Schaumburg businesses that are considering marketing and advertising to boost their company's sales should consider banner advertising along with other options. This is essentially putting up an ad on a related, or newsworthy website that will show your ad to readers who may be interested in your services. If you can believe it, people will drive by a business for years and never go inside. It may be because they don't know what the business offers, or simply don't like the name. 

A great advertisement, on or offline, will bring in traffic. A web banner needs to show exactly what you do within seconds, so it's incredibly important to have a Chicago advertising agency design these ads for you. They'll also know exactly where to place them, how to link them, and how to track visits to your website through them. The cost of these services can be surprisingly affordable, and are designed to bring in a lot more business than the cost of the banner itself. 

Online, the typical banner is around 1'' by 6'' or 150 pixels by 600 pixels. That's no a lot of room! Choose your words wisely, offer something, or promote a current sale to get people to come to your website and either make a purchase or send you their information. It's as easy as that!

At our company, we offer a full range of services from graphic design and branding to web design and search engine optimization, and everything in between. We recently designed and produced an entire trade show booth for one of our clients along with all the handouts, business cards and 30 second video to boot! Point being? You don't have to go to two separate agencies to get your website banner advertising up and generating leads!

Call us today at 847.537.0067 or visit our website, Chicago Graphic Design, to read more about advertising, logo design and web design services.

//Advertising Agency

Choosing the best Advertising Agency is critical!

Most companies start with a business idea with the best intentions. They have a good idea to do a lot of research, they get the money, but when it comes to choosing the right Advertising Agency, they do not do their homework. This can lead to big problems later down the road.

We're going to use real-life example of the best examples of this step. Take a new company law to be launched in the city of Chicago. They chose the design, location, and got the best minds working in their offices. But when it comes to images you want to describe to the public, are quite a blaze this topic, and often let them design a new logo and brand design, directly or friend of a friend. This logo and brand, then go out of their marketing materials that have seen our customers and potential customers.

Letterhead, business cards, foot-mail, to reach your website, this brand professionals not take place without any thought or understanding of the company or what the company and the owners trying to communicate .

Because people do not really understand benefits of high design, and they believe that the creation of a logo or brand identity solution is extremely easy they are not willing to pay a good price for it so. If they had hired a professional advertising agency at the outset to create a brand for their business, a brand that will last a lifetime, as the company grows and expands, it would not have to face the issue of an identity crisis and be forced to redesign their logo all over again.

So the lesson is: our brand and logo design are as important as the location of the office, your chairs for reception facilities and services.

Five Characteristics of Successful Advertising Campaigns

Advertising campaigns aren't successful on their own, and there is a method to the madness. Every Advertising Agency has their own system, but you'll find that 99% of them use the same techniques, albeit in the different way. The following is a list of the common, and most successful characteristics of a successful advertising campaign.

Promote, promote, promote - tempting offers, unique selling statements, seasonal sales, gifts ... the strength of your campaign (and success) begins with the value of your promotion as perceived by your target customers. You know your customers. What do they hear? The best advertising agencies will be able to tell you.

Hyper Target - Now you have an irresistible promotion, identify your audience. With hyper-target customers, you will ensure that your message will be in front of buyers right at the right time. You will also ensure that there will be a part of your efforts and investment is not wasted.

Diversify - Use multiple types of media to promote your offer - such as email, postcards and bill stuffers - and improve the likelihood your message will be seen. The more media in a campaign, the more likely that the message will be delivered.

Focus - The best advertising action in the short term and long-term is focused thinking. This means that the continued promotion and strengthening of a marketing cycle in your target audience expects - and is waiting - to hear about your next offer.

Reflective - You are the force behind what makes an effective advertising campaign! Rethinking the campaign has had a big impact on you, got your attention, and force you to buy. What you take away one? How did this campaign to connect the dots and you at the door? Remember, if you sell batteries or car insurance, the basics of successful advertising are the same!

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Advertising Agency
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QR Codes and Graphic Design: A Marriage

Chicago Graphic Design & QR Codes

QR or Quick Response Codes have been around since 1994 and were originally used to track parts during car manufacture. It is likely you have seen one, even if you didn’t know what it was, usually displayed as black and white squares in a grid pattern reminiscent of a crossword. Essentially QR Codes are a barcode capable of holding significantly more information (thousands of characters as opposed to tens).

Around October 2010 they became a popular tool to quickly link smartphone users through to web pages, provided the phone had a relevant reader installed. Creating your own code is fairly simple with a myriad of free to use generators available, though initially the various options can be slightly overwhelming.

So How Are QR Codes Used?
QR codes are a quick and convenient way to transfer information to smart phones (or any digital device with a reader). The information encoded might direct users to a website URL, add contact details, offer special discounts and much more. They are often seen in magazines and on posters and flyers, where details on an event or product can be transferred. More specialised uses involve supplying extra details on name tags and business cards (vCards or personalised webpages), television adverts that are continued interactively and ordering online from closed high street shops.

QR Codes have also been used as coupon codes, online tickets and in scavenger hunts. Reiterating the paper message is a frequent but uninteresting practise, it is often more effective to create useful and interesting applications that will get people talking. What follows are a few of the better examples.

Mini Business Cards
Using minicards means less space, but with the addition of a QR code any missing details can still be passed on.

Menus
Scanning the code on this menu from a Radisson Edwardian Hotel will take you through to a video of the dish being prepared.

Resume / CVA fantastic way to stand out from the crowd, scanning the code takes the user to a video of him giving his resume in his own voice.

How Do I Create My Own QR Code?
There are plenty of free QR code generators out there. Generally the default settings will be fine for a quick and easy result and many of the options are fairly self-evident though they will sometimes appear under different headings. Nevertheless to ensure that any interested party has the best chance of using your code it is worth at least being aware of some of the more advanced options available.

Must Know QR Code Tips
Resolution –An important part of a QR code is the size as if it is too small some devices may have issues reading it. Across different generators Resolution is also referred to as Scale, Block size or Output.

Data Type – This defines what action the code will take when scanned, it is commonly used to show the user websites, plain text, phone numbers, Google maps and email addresses.

Redundancy/Error Correction – If a portion of the code becomes unreadable having using Error Correction during creation will mean the code compensates for lost data. There are varying degrees of correction offered (15% is the most common) though the larger the redundancy allowed for the greater the increase the grid size. At 0% any obstruction/damage to the code is likely to render it unreadable.

How Do I Read The QR Code?

Every major device has a number of available readers, some such as Blackberry come with a built in reader, Android and iOS have a number of free and paid options available on their respective marketplaces. QR Reader for iPhone and QR Droid for Android and Google Goggle for both, are favourites.

Mad Men in Advertising

I'm sure by now you've heard of Mad Men - the show about an Advertising Agency in the early 20's run by all men and their, of course, beautiful wives. It's a great show, perhaps not full of advertising, but definitely drama, but I wanted to talk about the company itself.

Sterling Cooper. It's a strong name for an Advertising Agency, and had quite the long run. Sterling Cooper, an actual advertising agency, was founded in 1923 by Bertram Cooper and Roger Sterling Sr. on New York City. The show goes on to tell the tale of these men and their women sell their way to the top while hiding secrets, affairs and making dirty deals.

Is this the way advertising agencies run themselves these days? Perhaps not, but it's a great look inside the world of advertising in the 50s and 60s. It's cutthroat and there are multitudes of dirty deals being made, but the overall theme is that Don Draper is an advertising genius! The advertising agency, Sterling Cooper attracts clients because of his deep understanding of the consumer and what they want to see in advertising and products. He's moody, shady but brilliant all the same.

Top 5 Advertising Myths

Advertising used to be for the giants of business and small business owners would shy away from using advertising for their businesses. There began to circulate some advertising myths that still hold strong today. These are those myths. As a marketing expert with an Advertising Agency, I feel I have a need to debunk some of these myths. The advertising agency I work for works for small to medium and even rather large businesses, and all of them have profited with our unique blend of advertising expertise.

Myth #1: Only Some Businesses Need Advertising

Wrong! Advertising works for every business as long as it's done right. In advertising's most basic form, it's a way to make someone take action and use your services or product. Isn't that something like handing someone a business card and saying, let's do business? You're advertising yourself! And it works. Don't get down in the dumps if your first hack at advertising fails - every company fails at some point! Look at Gap. Their rebranding tanked, yet their customer base stands strong.

Myth #2: You Only Need Advertising When Business is Slow

Wrong Again! Advertising is needed even when business is booming! In fact - that's the best time to advertise. Why would you want to advertise when you're desperate and nobody knows who you are? Let your advertising agency come up with some great advertising when your customer base is flying high!

Myth #3: Cheap Advertising is Just as Good as Expensive Advertising

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong. Have you ever seen the Eagle Man Commercials? You laugh at them right? That's cheap advertising. You like Apple's iPod commercials that are highly visual and usually have some famous musician's song playing in the background? That's an expensive ad, but do you know how much money it made them? The expense was worth it in the end.

Myth #4: Advertising is Expensive no Matter How You Look at It.

This depends on the advertising you're going after. Advertising could simply be an intelligently placed and designed ad in a newspaper. You don't have to get a billboard on I-88 if your business doesn't warrant the expense. And think of it this way - if you don't advertise yourself, the next best thing is going to take your customer base away from you. Talk to your advertising company and ask their opinion. You'll be surprised how affordable simply advertising bits can be.

 Myth #5: You'll Save Money by Not Advertising

True. But you won't make any money either. Depending on your sales cycles, cutting back on advertising now, could mean less sales in the future and that's no good at all. Reducing your advertising budget in the short-term often leads to long-term troubles, and after all - how do you expect your business to grow if you don't keep reminding your customers of your awesome products and services?

Now that I've convinced you that hiring an Advertising Agency is the best thing you could do for yourself, why don't you head over to my website and see what my company can do for you. If you're in need of a PR Firm - let us know! We've got great references.

SEO & Advertising in 2011

I was thinking the other day of starting a magazine and thought - who am I going to use for my Advertising Agency, and I had an idea! Let's go to Google and find one. But there are so many advertising agencies in the world, especially in Chicago, that I figured - I should probably contact the top three to see which is going to be the best for my company and my budget.

Sound familiar? Well it probably is! Have you ever wondered how those three advertising agencies got to the top spots in Google? Search Engine Optimization. What is SEO you say? It's another form of Advertising online known as Internet Marketing. Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization deal with building inbound links to your website that are associated with certain keywords. This long, and sometimes confusing process all boil down to one simple result: Your Website at #1 in Google.

So which Advertising Agency did I go with? I sat down with all of the agencies and got their opinions on where I should go with branding, logo design and the marketing of my magazine and I got the best solution and price by getting quotes from all three. Now I know why they're at the top - SEO and Reputation!

Which advertising agency to choose?

In today’s world, the advertising agency has become a very important one! Not only are more and more companies taking advantage of the fact that they can now promote our products and services online, but a lot more of them are looking into spreading our message as far as they possibly can. With that said, choosing the right company to go to for all of your advertising needs could very well be the single most important decision you made — entrusting your business to the right company will maximize your profits, capturing the attention of the widest audience while conveying a truly memorable message.

If you’ve been searching for an advertising agency, I would suggest looking no further than this blog. Our mission is simple enough, and that’s to ensure that our clients are happy. We have high expectations of our analysts and creative masterminds, as they call them, which means that they’re going to have those same high expectations for your company if you choose them for all of your advertising needs. On top of that, they seek to combine new and old media to ensure that your intended audience receives the message about your business on the most levels — whether it’s through commercials broadcast along with our favorite television shows or even something that’s played on the radio as we go to work every morning, this advertising agency will get you out there. We will get your message heard.

Since I’ve been thinking about starting my own cloth diapering service from home for a long time now, I now know who I’m going to go to for advertising!

Advertising Agency

Many successful sites online are making use of Search Engine Optimization, Social Bookmarking and other forms of Internet Marketing. Also, most of these businesses have a business plan for their online marketing. Why? If you have a website on any subject, there are many many more like it! It becomes extremely difficult to get your website ranked on the first pages of major search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo! SEO is very important, if not the most important thing on your internet marketing checklist.

This is where an Advertising Agency can help you. We are not your run of the mill advertising agency, no no! We are the needle in the haystack and bring our clients into the modern marketing and advertising world with fresh views on design and the market. While advertising strategies are changing, the internet revolution is changing with it and bringing television, radio and print along with it. Your agency telling you that print is dead. They're wrong! We know the trends, we create the trends! We know what it takes to develop stellar campaigns that attract the type of client you want.

Through SEO (search engine optimization) and traditional Marketing, you can position yourself and your website right in front of your client in the SERPS (Search Engine Rankings). Our social marketing team will also optimize and design your Facebook and Twitter account so you can get started on the right foot. With millions of people Tweeting and Facebooking, it's essential for your business to get in on the action!

Graphic Designers: 5 Tips for Blogging Success

Sometimes it can be a struggle to fit Marketing and Blogging into the busy schedule of a Graphic Designer, but it is still necessary. Think of all the creative experiences you can have by writing about what you love to do! The first battle is getting it out of your head that blogging A. is a waste of time, B. will take too long, or C. is too much effort for too little reward. All Wrong! Continue with these tips for Blogging Success and you'll be on the fast track to getting more Graphic Design clients, and perhaps even have a good time while you write.

Obstacle  #1: Time
The main complaint I hear when I tell people they need to blog in order to up their web traffic is, 'I don't have the time', or 'It takes too long'. My question is though, have you tried? Blogging doesn't have to be  a part-time job. What's more, is that writing out a list of topics may help you cut down the time it takes to come up with things to write about! Take some time, think about your daily goings-on and write down a few ideas. It will take you 10 minutes. Next, map out what each post could contain, kind of like an outline; that should take another 10 minutes. Then - write about 400-500 words on that topic. Once you get going, the words will start to fly! Do this twice a week and you've spend about

Obstacle #2: Writing Topics
This is undoubtedly the hardest part of blogging: coming up with concepts. But the thing is, you talk about Graphic Design everyday! To friends, clients, family and business colleagues. How is it so hard to talk to the internet? Pick your favorite aspect of design, and run with it. Talk about your favorite font, or even the history of your favorite font. You might learn a thing or two in the process.

Obstacle #3: Mechanics
Most people, once they get past the time and topic issues, are baffled as to how to blog and on what. The answer? Blogger. Wordpress. Posterous. Tumblr. All absolutely FREE and completely user friendly. You don't even need to log into Posterous (you blog by sending the platform an email!). Hit post and you're done.

If you can come up with more reasons to NOT blog, please let me know - because blogging is the lifeblood of our society - we wouldn't learn new things or discover great inspiration if not for others sharing their knowledge and design on the web. Try it yourself and you may be surprised at the outcome.

If you're not a designer and need a hand with your logo design, business card or website design, hire us! We're among the great Graphic Designers in Chicago and are more than willing to share our knowledge with you and your business.

Thanks for reading.

Choosing the Right Graphic Design Firm is Critical

Chicago Graphic Design

Most businesses start out with a business idea with the very best intentions. They have a great idea do a lot of research, they get the necessary funding but when it comes to choosing the right graphic design company they do not do their homework. This can lead to some big problems later on down the road.

We're going to use a real life example to best convey this example. Take a new law firm starting up in the city of Chicago. They chose a location, and got the best design minds working on their offices. But, when it comes to the image that they want to portray to the public, they are quite blaze about this subject and will often let their new logo design and branding be designed by either themselves, or a friend of a friend. This logo and branding will then go on their marketing materials that are seen by clients and prospective clients.

From letterheads, business cards, email footers, all the way to their website, this unprofessional branding will be implemented with no thought or understanding of the business or what the business and owners are trying to communicate.

Because people do not really undersatnd the benefits of strong graphic design and they think that creating a logo design or brand identity solution is extremely easy they are not willing to pay a good price to get this done. If they had hired an established design comapny in the first place to create a brand for their company; a brand that will last a life time, as the company grows and expands it wouldn't have to face the issue of an identity crisis and be forced to re-design their logo all over again.

So lesson being: Your branding and logo design are just as important as your office location, the chairs in your reception area and the services you provide.

Chicago Logo Design