1 1 THE REVIEWcandyrice design

A monthly newsletter of marketing ideas, photos, and fun.

helpful tips and fun websites to visit, plus freebies onlinefresh inspiration from unexpected places, like candles, a wedding invitation, and a notecarda new book deserves a fitting coverTackling fear of creating original art and other thoughts from Candymarketing tip for boosting sales during the holidays and an odd photo just for fun

2 :11 :09

holidays are near!good things for you and your customers

Helpful Tips & FreebiesRethink Mobile AdsA recent study by online advertising network Chitika comparing mobile vs. non-mobile internet usage found that mobile surfers are HALF AS LIKELY to click on an advertisement as non-mobile surfers. So while there is huge potential for marketing in this medium, click-based efforts are probably not going to work as well. Consider simple coupon or first-come, first-served efforts for mobile surfers instead.

Top 50 Websites Professionals UseThis list of most-visited sites by web professionals is from an article in the November 2009 issue of Website Magazine. Google ranked #1, followed by Yahoo! and Facebook in 2nd and 3rd places, respectively. Other notables include Twitter at #12, Squidoo at #28, StumbleUpon at #42, and SnagAJob at #49. I’ve posted the full list on my site if you want to read more.

Website TemplatesAre you a website do-it-yourselfer? If so, you’ll enjoy the templates at TemplateRover. I’m not at all affiliated with this company, but you can find some lovely HTML, CSS, Flash, and other templates on this site. Most of the templates start around $50. If you’re a website designer, you might appreciate the $99/year access to all of their templates.

Email Marketing ServicesConstant Contact is one of the leading companies in this field, and I usually recommend it for my clients. However, another company providing similar capabilities is MailChimp. The pricing is the same as Constant Contact, with one exception that business owners with fewer than 500 emails in the database will love: a free plan!

FreebiesHere are some other free items I found this month on Facebook and other websites. Get a free Bloomin’ Onion at Outback Steakhouse when you become one of their first 500,000 Facebook fans. Get 20 free Indie Spotlight songs when you become an iTunes Facebook fan. Get a free download of Martha Stewart’s Thanksgiving Hotline Cookbook from Sirius Radio. Get a free travel-size Rosemary Mint Hand and Body Wash from Aveda.

We love to help our clients! There are many other ways to do this. Want more ideas or help with getting new clients? We can help! Call us today!

holidays are near!good things for you and your customers

a

We had a great time creating this book cover for Don Raun, one of the authors at Minnesota-based Bible Alive Ministries.

The book was Don’s second on the topic of helping Evangelicals understand Muslims in America by this author, and we were pleased to be tapped for this project after having designed the first book’s cover.

The design needed to visually illustrate dawn over a Minnesota landscape, juxtaposed against the traditional garments of a Muslim man. In addition, the visual elements needed to appeal to an older reader. We think simplicity is elegant, and chose to very simply combine these elements for this project.

This project utilized just two of the many services we offer to our clients and we’re excited about the outcome and happy to add this design to our portfolio. We wish Don and Bible Alive Ministries great success with this latest book!

Solutions Provided: • Design Services• Photography Services

FeaturedprojectClient: Don RaunBible Alive Ministries, Minnesota

Want to make some quick cash? Recommend us and make an easy 50 bucks!

Become a Facebook fan and follow us on Twitter!(facebook.com/candyricedesign) (twitter.com/candyrice)

As always, we’d love to know what you’re thinking about. Have some questions? Feel free to email them to us at candy@candyrice.com and we’ll do our best to answer them! Photo by Sohi Photography.

OctoberI’ve been reading a lot lately, and am thrilled to have just received a new subscription to How magazine!

Geared toward designers, this magazine is chock full of designs, articles, and new kinds of paper, each of which have set my brain in high gear with ideas for projects. I love the way that something new and creative can conjure ideas, which then have the potential to become reality!

I have to confess something: I’ve spent much of my life afraid to create original art, letting that invidious voice in my head keep repeating that I “can’t draw,” am not “original,” and don’t know what’s “cool.”

But no more! I have finally gathered my courage in both hands and have created my first art piece! While I still have some

misgivings about its “coolness,” I have decided that it is good enough as it stands, and you know what? Immediately after I decided to let the piece be what it was, a flood of ideas for other art pieces rushed in!

I’m so excited to explore this new track and am looking forward to the day when I can overcome my last “art” hurdle and actually show my pieces to the wider world!

Shifting gears, it occurs to me that most of us love fun events, good deals, and thoughtful gifts. All of us small business owners should be thinking about ways to incorporate this common desire into our holiday push!

What kinds of new products or services could you add to your mix as the holidays approach? What clever, cool, or gorgeous (preferably all three!) gift could you offer your clients to get them in the door?

My inspiration for the month came from many places, including designs featured in How magazine, a wedding invitation from a cousin-in-law, and some note cards given to me by a good friend. Other inspiration includes the cabin we spent a long weekend at in the mountains recently and a super-cool art piece one of my clients sells at her antiques store.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, let’s all take some time to be actively grateful for the wonderful things in our lives as we savor the tastes of the holiday season!

life going on

thoughts“If you want

to leave your

footprints on the

sands of time,

you’d better be

wearing work

shoes.”

~Murphy’s Law

cover : Antiques, Coloradoa : Embellishments on wood, Colorado

all photographs by candy rice1 : Cabin near Salida, Colorado2 : You are Beauty full, Old Glory Antiques3 : Wedding invitation4 : A bite of snow, Colorado5 : Notecard, www.storypeople.com6 : Beautiful vintage pieces, Old Glory Antiques7 : Illume Candles, www.illumecandles.com

1

2

my fresh inspiration

6

345

7

Cheer-in the Holidays!“The pumpkins come out, the days grow shorter, the weather cools, and there’s no mistaking that the holiday season is upon us,” says Karen Talavera in an article at MarketingProfs (read the entire article). And though marketers face the challenge of lingering recession worries, you can still add holiday sparkle to a subscriber’s inbox, Talavera points out.

Among her suggestions for making spirits bright:

Give your customer a gift. “What immediate non-purchase-related value can you offer for free?” asks Talavera. “How about some cheer, as Office Max has done for several years running with its ‘Elf Yourself’ program? Or better yet, feature ... relevant and helpful content such as recipes, shopping tips, or ideas for a new holiday tradition.”

Draw her in with an intriguing tale. Consider a special newsletter series that tells a story about your company or product; or one that gives specific gift suggestions each week for the people in a customer’s life—from parents to a boss. “Provided you don’t go overboard with frequency,” notes Talavera, “subscribers love a limited-time email series because it clarifies and manages their expectations from the start and promises not to go on indefinitely.”

Reward him for shopping online. Lure customers to your website with incentives like Internet-only promotions and inventory they won’t find in your brick-and-mortar store.

Keep the party going! “Remember that you can issue post-holiday rewards for holiday-period purchases,” Talavera reminds us. “That strategy prevents erosion of holiday sales margins while igniting post-holiday sales during typically slow periods.”

marketing tip

303.947.5527www.candyrice.com : candy@candyrice.com

12304 north bannock street, #19103 | westminster, co 80234

We love puzzles, cartoons, and funny photos. Watch this section each month for something new to do or laugh at.

Excerpts from an article by Karen Talavera at MarketingProfs.

Think about special ways you can cheer-in your clients!

-Invisible man- who paints himself to blend into his environment, from The Daily Heller.