Chandeliers filled the hotel

From the moment I entered the lobby I was engulfed by youthful luxury and style with magnificent chandeliers, velvet curtains, marble floors and vivid colors. Our room had a balcony filled with oversized furniture and overlooked the pool. I felt comfortable and spoiled!

When exiting the lobby for dinner and drinks that evening, we were met by the hotel’s very own car service. It’s a sleek black SUV with their “Stay ZaZa” tagline on the side doors and the skull of some horned animal on the grill. Complimentary car service again offers a luxurious and carefree feeling.

Having a room booked at the hotel that night was like having the golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. We were automatically VIP status…or as Hotel ZaZa puts it “ZZIP”. The pool and restaurant area turned into one of the hottest night clubs in Dallas and we had front row seats! Once again, the hotel was a true destination.

Saturday brunch was incredible in their elegant restaurant. When it was time to pay the check, we were handed a promotional card that featured quotes from media write-ups about the hotel and a “Stay ZaZa” pen.

Pen, Matchbook & Promotional Card

While walking out, we found a matchbook and mini notepad once again with the famous tagline reminding you to “Stay ZaZa”.

Daytime at Urban Oasis was definitely the place where you went to be seen. Poolside cocktails and a free popsicle made me a happy camper! As the day went on, the pool grew smaller and smaller as more and more people joined the party. And Hotel ZaZa likes to host a party.

Balls of Fun at Hotel ZaZa

Around 2:30pm beach balls started flying from a 2nd floor balcony. I can’t believe how crazy I went over a beach ball. I even tried to take my new prize back to the room and was stopped and ask to leave the ball behind. When I inquired as to why, I was told that they were protecting their brand and didn’t want their logo to “end up somewhere they didn’t approve.” I respectfully gave up the beach ball!

As someone that discusses the importance of branding daily and as a business owner that is working on our very own brand, I was thoroughly impressed with Hotel ZaZa and all they had done to enforce their brand and image.

I’ll be back…and I might take my little dog too!

All Dogs Go To ZaZa

]]> http://www.fullmoondesigngroup.com/blog/branding/hotel-zaza-a-branded-success/feed 0 http://www.fullmoondesigngroup.com/blog/uncategorized/marketing-all-wheels-need-to-be-in-orbit http://www.fullmoondesigngroup.com/blog/uncategorized/marketing-all-wheels-need-to-be-in-orbit#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:26:53 +0000 Katie Osborne http://www.fullmoondesigngroup.com/blog/?p=539 Introducing the Lunar Cycle: All marketing wheels need to be in orbit!
*Note: Our model is to serve as a summary of good marketing practices.

To be successful in business, you have always needed a marketing strategy. Your marketing strategy has always needed to promote your brand while protecting it at the same time. And the result of a truly successful marketing plan is a well recognized brand of a profitable business! Smaller businesses struggle daily to keep up with their marketing and branding. It’s easy to get focused on one particular method and forget about the rest. I am writing this blog today to stress that marketing strategies have not changed and as a business, you can’t survive on just one approach!

Full Moon Design Group's Luna Cycle

Print doesn’t substitute your networking activities and web doesn’t substitute your print materials and social media does NOT substitute for all of it! Instead, you will want to make sure that they are all working together, in unison, promoting your brand and communicating the same message.

There are five different marketing wheels and each one orbits around your brand. Each of the five, have their own moving parts. We will be expanding this blog into several posts in an effort to start the conversation of each of the wheels and the components it is made of.

It all starts with your Company Culture. Developing a strong company culture will ensure that your company’s mission is brought to the forefront and that you are getting the Word of Mouth marketing that you want.

Next, you have your Activities. These activities consist of Special Events that you hold as a company, Charities or Non-Profit organizations that you and your company support, local Chambers that you are a member of, Professional Associations that make sense for your company and employees, Sponsorships that promote your brand to the right audience and Tradeshows that will help you get in front of your audience.

Your printed materials will consist of creative Ads, Direct Mail, Stationary, Brochures/Flyers/Pushcards, Promotional products and Presentation Materials. When engaging in your Activities, it’s always helpful to have printed material to support your brand. What printed material you have at each activity should be relevant and impactful.

Moving to the digital world, you now need to have a website. Your website should be clean, inviting and engaging to your current clients and prospective ones. Features of your website that should not be overlooked include a Blog, Newsroom and Email sign up form for your newsletter. In your Blog, you’ll be the expert and offer advice, your Newsroom will keep people abreast of the “goings on” in your company, and your Email newsletter will be a place for special offerings and information.

Expanding into the digital world, we find Social Media and boy does it get complicated and overwhelming! Social Media is an all access pass to the world. It’s a free medium for you to engage strangers, communicate your thoughts & ideas, and invite people in to really “get to know you” as a business. Social Media is now the gateway to higher rankings from search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Ask. To keep it simple, we’ve grouped Social Media into several descriptive categories…and this just scratches the surface!

The most familiar outlet is the Lifestreams/Microblogs which include Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. Within these Lifestreams, you will find Location Based applications like Gowalla, Foursquare, and Whrrl…great ways to promote your business and interact with the public. When blogging or offering useful white papers, Social Bookmarking is a great way to make sure people find you. Popular methods are Delicious or Stumbleupon. Moving on to more fun stuff, you’ll find the Media Sharing sites like YouTube, Ustream and Flickr. For businesses, it’s important to participate in Business and Niche Networking sites like LinkedIn, Ning & Spoke. And last, but not least, you have the Review based sites including Yelp, Google & Yahoo.

The sixth component of the Luna Cycle is Public Relations. Your public relations strategy should be coordinated with your marketing strategy and pushing the information out to the public. Full Moon Design Group has strategic PR partners in place that we work with frequently to ensure our clients get exposure in all aspects of their business, in as many places where their audience resides.

Two of our recent campaigns yielded typical results, though “typical” in both instances made these companies’ investments worth every penny.

Pool Doc sent out 1,200 postcards to a targeted audience.  His investment yielded over 20 new clients (and counting!), most with annual service contracts.  Total ROI was 150% in the first month for a phenomenal projected total of 2900% (yes, you read that right) for the year.

Green Collar Operations also had great success! With 5,000 mailers sent, they have already closed one deal and have booked 30 more estimates.  They have a proven track record of closing 40% of the estimates they place and they project a 1000% return on their investment. No kidding.  Go Green Collar!

A successful direct mail marketing campaign can depend on a number of factors, though the two primary components are (1) determine who you want to reach; and (2) develop your messaging to effectively grab your audience’s attention. Full Moon Design Group can help you access quality database resources and demographics, so that you can target the prospects at whom you are aiming both effectively and precisely, and create a strategic message that resonates with your audience and calls on them to act.

The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages but you should be aware of them all before making your decision.  So what are the Pros and Cons of direct mail?

Pros of Direct Mail:

1. It is one of the easiest forms of marketing out there.  Direct mail marketing has been used for a long time.  The process is in place.  You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but you do have to know who your target audience is.

2. You can target a large audience or a very specific demographic.  You are behind the wheel and can control who receives your message and who doesn’t.  FMDG can help you develop a quality mailing list.

3. You have full flexibility of your messaging.  You can tailor your messages to specific groups or keep it consistent across all audiences.

4. Each direct mail marketing campaign is measurable.  Direct mail makes sending measurable discount codes easy.  You can track the success each time you send it out.  You can send out different codes for specific groups and can measure the success according to those different target audiences to see which ones respond to each messages.

5. You can test a promotion on a small scale before committing a huge budget.

6. You can strengthen your brand and your message with each mail distribution.

7. Direct mail is delivered directly to the person.  You know that they receive it and you know that at least the brand recognition factor is strengthened, even if it goes right in the trash.

8. You can put as little or as much information in your mailer as you want.  Whether it is a simple postcard or a full envelope with company information, coupons, etc.  You tailor the mailer to fit your needs.

Cons of Direct Mail:

1. Direct mail is often considered to be junk mail. Seldom does a one-shot mailing have the desired result. You must have a long term, well thought out marketing plan.

2. Direct mail is still popular, so you have compete for attention.  FMDG can develop the right image for your mailer to get noticed.

3. There is a high cost per contact, but the return is higher.

4. You have to maintain an accurate mailing list or purchase a high quality list from a valued source.  While this is true, it is also part of your initial investment.

5. Green factor.  More paper means less trees.  FMDG encourages the use of and offers recycled paper and earth friendly inks.

6. Direct mail is snail mail spam, but it is not seen in as negative a light.  Though competition for attention is still high, you don’t have to fight through 10+ per day (if you are lucky!) advertisements on male enhancement drugs, rich dignitaries trying to get money out of some unheard of 3^rd world country, or the multitudes of other unwarranted emails.

Marketing professionals like Full Moon Design Group know how to increase visibility and the likelihood that your message will be seen and heard.  They are knowledgeable on ways to decrease the risks and environment impact.  They can develop the right implementation plan for your business so that your message gets to the right people at the right time.

They will coordinate your mailing with other advertising methods to significantly increase your return and will help you track your campaigns so you can see the ROI of every dollar you spend.

For assistance with your marketing strategy and direct mail campaign, visit www.fullmoondesigngroup.com or call 512.428-9072.

Good photos helpful for Graphic Design

Photographers produce and preserve images that convey a message without the need for words. They can tell a story, record an event or give off an art vibe. I was flipping through a magazine and I was intrigued by a picture of the sun’s rays, cascading along the sea shore. I was ready to book my ticket as my eyes darted across the knit bits of detail used on the page. Right then I wondered what is it that made me stop and take a second glance of this picture. Photography is a staple of design: it’s a step in the designing process. Photography plays an important role in graphic design. It’s helpful that photographers know the design concept prior to the creation in order to capture the image that best conveys the message. Designers need quality photographs in order to create quality designs.

How can photography be translated into graphic design? The answer is the camera. The camera is capable of creating masterpiece graphic images and other photo-like art. Graphic elements can be found in every art picture; these graphic elements include form, design, texture, and content. In today’s age of marketing, design and photography go hand in hand. In all aspects of visual design, photographic design requires planning and decision making. Photographers need technical expertise, creativity, and the appropriate professional equipment. Producing a successful picture requires choosing and presenting a subject to achieve a particular effect, selecting the right cameras, and having the right photographic enhancing tools. Photographers also try different techniques to perform good quality photographs: enhance the subject’s appearance with natural or artificial light, shoot the subject from an interesting angle, draw attention to a particular aspect of the subject by blurring the background, or use various lenses to produce desired levels of detail at various distances from the subject. This is where our favorite adobe programs come in hand to create a photographic design. An example I found on the web is this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielle-tunstall/4507765328/in/pool-photographicdesign. This picture is a close up version of a child and then enhanced in photoshop. The designer threw in a techno-stencil brush effect into the picture to create an art form of a photographic design.

The magazine photo that I stumbled upon would look great by itself without the editing. But what made it more appealing were the graphic elements splashed across the page to allure the viewer. Photography and graphic design go hand in hand when creating a masterpiece image. Without the designs, it’s just an ordinary sunset picture.

WASHINGTON D.C., November 20, 2008 — Full Moon Design Group, Inc. has been selected for the 2008 Best of West Lake Hills Award in the Graphic Arts category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA).

The USLBA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USLBA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2008 USLBA Award Program focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USLBA and data provided by third parties.

About U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA)

U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA) is a Washington D.C. based organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of USLBA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising.

The USLBA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America.

SOURCE: U.S. Local Business Association

CONTACT:
U.S. Local Business Association
Email: PublicRelations@USLBA.net
URL: http://www.USLBA.net

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUSTIN, TEXAS, October 20, 2008 – Full Moon Design Group, an Austin-based marketing communications and design firm, today announces the completion and release of the book, The Smile Never Fades: Caring and Sharing by Bill Bastas.  Proceeds from this wonderful collection of memories go to helping breast cancer survivors.  Full Moon Design Group is proud to be a participant in this effort through the design and creation of the Smile Never Fades logo.

“Working on the Smile Never Fades logo was very gratifying,” said Katie Osborne, Principal and Co-founder of Full Moon Design Group.  “It is great to know that the time and energy put into the logo by each team member will help so many in their breast cancer fight.”

The Smile Never Fades: Caring and Sharing is compiled of portraits of breast cancer survivors, their friends and family and other supporters, as well as intimate essays written by the survivors themselves.  All of the proceeds from the book, which is officially being release on Wednesday, October 8th, will go to the Breast Cancer Resource Center of Austin.

For more information about The Smile Never Fades: Caring and Sharing, please visit the Website at www.thesmileneverfades.com.

The Smile Never Fades Logo

About Full Moon Design Group

Founded in 2004, Full Moon Design Group, Inc. is a fully custom graphic design firm specializing in the creation and production of competition-devouring marketing materials.  From logos to Websites, Full Moon Design Group creates and produces concepts that clearly state your message in a simple and concise manner.  Founders Katie Osborne and Vicky Gouge, and the rest of the Full Moon team, believes in maintaining a standard of quality with a steadfast commitment to customer service and satisfaction.

For more information about Full Moon Design Group, please visit them online at www.fullmoondesigngroup.com.