Full Moon Design Blog

The Full Moon Design Group Interview

Full Moon Design Group has decided that all work and no play makes us pretty dull.  So we have decided that every now and again we are going to do an interview of one of our employees and then reveal the results to you in our blog.

Our first victim, I mean interviewee, is one of the founding partners Vicky Gouge.

The Real Vicky Gouge

Vicky was born on a warm summer day, along with her twin sister, in the wonderful city of Houston, Texas.  Her and her sister were the oldest of the Gouge clan, with her other sister and brother bringing up the rear.

During her childhood, Vicky always had to finish the fights that her twin sister would start.  So alas, in order to defend her sister and to ultimately emulate Bruce Lee, Vicky went on to get her brown belt in Tai Kwon Do when she was 28.

Aqua-Vicky to the Rescue!

When Vicky isn’t super busy at the Full Moon Design Group offices, she doesn’t want to be within five feet of a computer.  This self-proclaimed “water baby” does, however, want to be in the water.  Having been a swimmer, a life-guard, and a swim coach; she finds herself in total Zen at Lake Travis or in a pool.  Or any body of water for that matter. 

Knowing the above, it makes sense that one of Vicky’s favorite things to do on the weekend is to entertain friends at her house and hang out by the pool.  Hmmm – I know where I will be this weekend – wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

It’s a Dog’s Life for Vicky

Vicky’s two dogs, Madison and Bella, love to snuggle up with their mom in the mornings, which makes it very, very, very, very hard for to get up in the morning.  Thus, Vicky’s poor girlfriend struggles on a daily basis to get her out of bed.  She has even been known to turn on the shower and leave it running, knowing full well that Vicky will get up as to not waste the water or money.

But once Vicky does get up and get going, it only takes five cups of coffee to keep her alert for her Full Moon Design Group clients.

Now , we hope you enjoyed your little peek life of Vicky Gouge, stayed tuned for when we delve deeper into the world of Katie Osborne.

Going Green in Marketing

Green seems to be a very popular color these days, it seems that everybody wants to be come more “green” and protect our environment.  With that in mind, we decided that a discussion regarding green marketing materials might be worthwhile.

How to Green Up your Marketing

There are many ways to be a little bit greener when marketing your product and thus reducing your company’s carbon footprints along the way.  No matter what the size of your marketing campaign, you can incorporate the three R’s (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) into your marketing efforts. 

Green Marketing Tips

Some examples of how to incorporate the three R’s are as follows:

• - Spend more time focusing your target list and targeting only true potential customers with your printed materials or promotional items; being careful to only order what you need according to the list.
• - Discuss using digital and online proofs with your designer vs. paper proofs wherever appropriate.
  Have all of your marketing materials printed on recycled paper with no more than 10% post-consumer waste
• - Using Soy inks for printing rather than petroleum-based inks.  Their colors are richer, they create less waste in the printing process and they are more-easily stripped off paper during the recycling process.  Also, please keep in mind that 90% of American Daily Newspapers print with soy inks.  Full Moon Design Group works with “green” print vendors that use vegetable and soy-based inks.
• -  When ordering promotional items, request that they be made from recycled items, like old tires and plastic bottles.  Try to make sure that the promotional product is something that the recipient can and will want to use over and over again.
• - Finally, recycle every opportunity you can.  You can even recycle that promotional drink koozie you have left over; they make great pen holders you know.

Green Marketing for Greener Results

Just by following one of the steps mentioned above, your company can decrease their carbon footprint.  You can also share your green marketing efforts with your clients, by having Full Moon Design Group incorporate a “Made from Recycled …” message, as well as a recycle logo on all your marketing materials.  For more information on how to market green, you can give us a shout and you can visit the Website for the Green Marketing Coalition at www.greenmarketingcoalition.com.

*Photo by Till Krich

Patience in Today’s World

Patience.  That is an interesting concept in today’s world.  With the internet, text messaging, blackberries, I-Phones, etc; the world wants information and results at the touch of a button and at lightning fast speed.  Businesses even want immediate reactions and results from their marketing and advertising campaigns; but what they are forgetting is that the human mind still works at the same speed.  Just because potential customers have information at lightning speed, it doesn’t mean that they make buying decisions at lightning speed. Businesses need to have patience.

Patience in Marketing

There is an article by Jay Conrad Levinson, the father of Guerilla Marketing, which includes a list of what your prospects thinks each time that they look at your ad.

“The first time a man looks at an advertisement, he does not see it.
 The second time, he does not notice it.
 
 The third time, he is conscious of its existence.
 The fourth time, he faintly remembers having seen it before.
 
 The fifth time, he reads it.
 The sixth time, he turns up his nose at it.
 
 The seventh time, he reads it through and says, “Oh brother!”
 The eighth time, he says, “Here’s that confounded thing again!”
 
 The ninth time, he wonders if it amounts to anything.
 The tenth time, he asks his neighbor if he has tried it.
 
 The eleventh time, he wonders how the advertiser makes it pay.
 The twelfth time, he thinks it must be a good thing.
 
 The thirteenth time, he thinks perhaps it might be worth something.
 The fourteenth time, he remembers wanting such a thing a long time.
 
 The fifteenth time, he is tantalized because he cannot afford to buy it.
 The sixteenth time, he thinks he will buy it some day.
 
 The seventeenth time, he makes a memorandum to buy it.
 The eighteenth time, he swears at his poverty.

 The nineteenth time, he counts his money carefully.
 The twentieth time he sees the ad, he buys what it is offering. “

Even though this list was written by Thomas Smith of London in 1885 – it still holds true today. 

The reason? 

Just as we stated earlier, no matter how advanced technology and the way receive information becomes, the human mind still operates the same way.

Importance of Patience

We can’t stress enough the importance of having patience in your marketing campaign.  Let a great campaign do its job and you will get the results that you want; it might just take a little bit longer than looking up tomorrow’s weather on the internet.

*Photo by Steve Jurvetson

Marketing during Slow Economy

In a time when many people fear recession, it may seem odd to suggest to companies to spend money on marketing.  However, it is during this downturn in the economy that this is actually one of the most important areas to spend your money.

Marketing Myths

Some say that a down economy is the time to cut the marketing and advertising budget and use the funds in other divisons of the company.  However, if history tells us anything; once a budget gets cut and the money is allocated somewhere else, it will more than likely stay in that other department.  They are going to prove that they need the money and the marketing department is going to have to re-prove ROI, etc to get back to the original amount.

Marketing your Brand

Another myth that some companies have is that they are strong enough and their brand is strong enough to survive the downturn in the economy without doing any marketing or advertising.  This is simply not true.  There is not one single company that could survive without advertising or promotion of some sort.  One should always remember the old adage “Out of Sight, Out of Mind.”

These companies will really feel the effects of this when the economy starts to improve and their marketing departments are scrambling to play catch-up.

More Marketing

The final point we will give, and one that companies need to keep in the forefront of their thoughts, is that just because nobody is buying anything right now, doesn’t mean that they aren’t going to in the future.  You have to put into your mind that during this time, the sales process is just a little bit longer than it used to be; therefore, companies need to stay in front of the consumer at all times.  Those companies that are not afraid to keep marketing during this time, will find that they will swallow their competition and dominate their market in the long run.

* Photo by Brent Moore