Tag Archives: marketing

Its OK to Say No

Posted on September 12, 2011 by in Graphic Design, Marketing

Back at the beginning of the year Forbes ran an interesting story called The 7 Success Principles of Steve Jobs. While the focus of these seven principles is on creating innovative gizmos, many of these ideas can be applied to marketing, branding and design. In this post, I want to focus on principle five:

Say no to 1,000 things. Steve Jobs once said, “I’m as proud of what we don’t do as I am of what we do.”  He is committed to building products with simple, uncluttered design. And that commitment extends beyond products. From the design of the iPod to the iPad, from the packaging of Apple’s products, to the functionality of the Web site, in Apple’s world, innovation means eliminating the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.

I find this interesting, because I’ve always conducted my own business this way. Our focus here at Velocimedia is on marketing, design and photography. More specifically, our clients are nimble, small businesses or sole proprietorships that are willing to invest in their business, take some risks and do things differently.  We don’t work with big corporations, and we never will — they’re too slow, too disorganized, and just plain “don’t get it.”

Principle 5 can be found in everything we do for our clients as well. Whether its a brochure or a web site, we don’t fill pages with marketing bullshit or worthless information. Everything we do has a reason. And more often than not, we leave things out for a reason too.

Don’t be a yesman. Its okay to say no to crummy ideas.

How Long Can You Tread Water?

Posted on June 20, 2011 by in Marketing

There is a school of thought that says: “In business, there is no treading water. You either swim for shore or you are simply drowning slowly.” At Velocimedia, we’d prefer to help you be beachside, waiting on the cabana-boy to bring another round of drinks, and faced with the decision to tan your front or your back. Getting to this comfortable position however, takes an investment of time, money, and just as importantly, trust.

Marketing is a business accelerator. It attracts attention, builds employee morale, and ultimately, increases sales. Marketing is the aggressive, competitive spirit of a company, and it reflects the goals, hopes and aspirations of American business. Believe in your dreams, and trust us to help you get there.

At Velocimedia, we’re not interested in building a life raft for your company—but we will help you create a speed boat. We support small companies that not only dream large, but also take action to create success. Business is sink or swim, and there is no treading water. So if you are ready to jump in and put aggressive marketing to work for you, contact Velocimedia. You’ll find us in the deep end.

The Chicken and the Egg

Posted on April 24, 2011 by in Marketing

This guy walks into a doctor’s office and says: “Hey Doc, you gotta’ help my family!”
And so the Doc says: “What’s the problem?”
The guy answers: “It’s my brother, he’s crazy, he thinks he’s a chicken.”
To which the doctor responds: “So, why don’t you have him committed?”
And the guy says: “We would, but we need the eggs.”

In business, it’s often hard to tell which came first, a great company or great marketing. We do know one thing for certain, and that is your brand only means what you make it mean—to your prospects, your customers, your suppliers, and your employees, with everything you say or do. Business leaders who have the courage to step outside themselves and embrace their customers’ perspective are usually rewarded with marketplace acceptance and growing sales. (We could make a bad pun here and say something like: “Those who don’t are just chicken.” We won’t do that.)

Whether you are the egg, or possibly chicken (from a marketing perspective, of course), Velocimedia an help. We can work with you to nurture your brand through any point in its development, or we can help you take that first big step into marketing without fear.