CGR BLOG

Charlotte Chamber of Commerce Quarterly Meeting

2012-01-23T12:53:00.000-05:00

Julio Colmenares will be attending the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce Quarterly Meeting today at 3:45 at the CPCC Central Campus. He will be a part of a panel discussing business in these tough economic times. We are proud of the roll we play with the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and with the Community Building Initiative. With the strength we give to these organizations we help to improve the quality of life in Charlotte and the surrounding area.

By Embra King

Quit While You're Ahead

2012-01-12T11:23:00.000-05:00

By: Embra King

Do you know of the Geico Gecko? Of course you do they have been beating that company mascot to death ever since his introduction in 1999. He has even had a couple accent changes since his debut. I know you know the Geico Cavemen pitch that has been on since 2005, you know the one that is so bad now that you almost feel embarrassed for them. Now I am all for fun creative advertising, but these things should have expiration dates, and for Geico’s two longest running adds I think it is time to lay them to rest. It is a good thing when a company knows when enough is enough, to bow out while the going is good. At once I thought that Geico’s gecko and caveman pitches where playful and fun, now I cringe every time I see one of their adds. It is like someone who was fun to hangout with for short periods of time, when all of a sudden they started showing up to party’s uninvited and sit in the corner not talking to any one periodically shouting nonsense to remind everyone that he is still in the room.

But now for my point. This past week Target unexpectedly announced it was parting ways with advertising firm Wieden + Kennedy. For several years now the firm had been creating fun 15-second commercials that depict little life moments, highlighting a single product at the end. The ability to deliver 150 compact playful and sometimes downright hilarious commercials in only about a year an a half is impressive, but what is more impressive is that each is very well done with none that really stand out as being bad. When Target’s VP was asked why they split with W+K he had this to say, “Leave really good work before it’s time to leave”. I think Gieco needs to take a page from the Target playbook and retire the gecko and caveman before someone thinks that a TV show based on their commercials is a good idea…

Chairs and Tables Photos

2011-12-29T12:24:00.000-05:00

Some great new photos from the Chairs and Tables Breakfast have arrived. It was a great success for us and the all the rest involved and we look forward to continuing CBI spread their message throughout Charlotte in the years to come.

Almost three hundred people were in attendance.

Dianne English, the Executive Director of CBI,
spoke on the differences in diversity.

Julio Colmenares(Center) is the chair of the

Latin American Chamber of Commerce here in Charlotte.

Charlotte's mayor Anthony Foxx gave a great talk on
diversity and its importance to our area.

Chairs and Tables Photos

2011-12-29T09:52:00.000-05:00

CGR on Fox News

2011-12-20T12:13:00.000-05:00

CGR's very own Julio Colmenares was interviewed for Reboot Charlotte on Fox news. It was a piece about leaders in the hispanic community that are making an impact in the Charlotte area. Check it out!

Chairs and Tables

2011-12-09T16:09:00.000-05:00

By Embra King

This Friday CGR Creative helped put together and deliver the Community Building Initiative’s annual stakeholders breakfast. The title for this year’s event, Chairs and Tables, is a play on the idea that, despite our differences, we are stronger together than apart. The event was a huge success, drawing in almost 300 people to the Mint Museum on a crisp December morning.

Among the many speakers at the event was Charlotte’s own mayor Anthony Foxx who spoke on the need for us to move beyond just talking about equality and the importance of connecting within our community. It was a great experience for all who attended and a lot of great stories and perspectives were presented.

We here at CGR are very grateful to be apart of such an important organization. If you want to learn more about CBI, please visit their website listed below. We at CGR look forward to moving forward with CBI in spreading ideas of equality and community across the Charlotte area.

To add to the conversation on the topics discussed during the stakeholders breakfast, simply use the hash tag #CandT to add your opinion on the ideas of equality and community in Charlotte.

Get connected to the Community Building Initiative:
www.communitybuildinginitiative.org
Twitter: @CommBldgInit
Facebook: communitybuildinginitiative

Facebook Swallows Another Company Whole

2011-12-06T12:07:00.002-05:00

By Embra King

This week Facebook has announced the purchase of the location-based company Gowalla for an undisclosed amount. This comes right around the time that Foursquare (The largest LBA provider) announced that they have just recently exceeded a user base of fifteen million.

Location-based apps are only a year or so old and are growing thanks to the explosion of smart phone owners. With the purchase of the Texas based company, it appears that Facebook have big plans for what these types of apps can bring to networking, marketing, and social reviews.

Facebooks biggest challenge is to increase the usage of these apps. While Foursquare boasted about their fifteen million subscribers, triple that of what they had at this time last year, a recent study has found that only about 2% of the subscribers actually use the product at least once a week.

It will be interesting to see if this most recent purchase is more of an acquisition of Gowalla's talent, or if they have plans for integrating this new app into Facebook’s already large social networking toolbox.

Commercial Art

2011-12-02T13:06:00.001-05:00

By Embra King

Call me crazy, but I love commercials.

I love them between shows, on billboards and in magazines. When I was young I use to go over to my friends houses and spend hours looking through their magazines, no matter what the subject. Sure I would read the articles sometimes, but mostly I was admiring there layouts and ads that filled up most of their thin pages. When I go to the movies, I always make sure I get to the theater early as to avoid missing the previews. If it wasn’t for those wonderfully crafted teasers before every show, I could hardly justify me spending the twelve-dollar ticket price. No you didn’t read any of that wrong, I enjoy something that most Americans seem to openly grumble about. I just think it is because we are looking at things all wrong.

Advertising, when done well, is a wonderful art form that folds creative design, language, and economics into this beautiful, multilayered piece of work. Companies and organizations of all sizes hire artists and writers to create powerful messages and a visual presence for their cause or product. Advertisers create beauty where there would only be grey. Ad agency’s are taking problems and solving them with art.

Not only do I find commercials and advertising to be an on going work of art, but I also enjoy them for chopping up TV shows. To me most shows need commercials. A killer slowly opens the door to find the hero asleep and helpless in bed when suddenly, a commercial break. We are left on the edge of our seats. We cry “no not now!” Our bodies tense up in anticipation for what lies at the end of the commercial block. Sure if you have seen the commercials a hundred times before this time might be better spent using the rest room or grabbing a bowl of ice cream, but for me there is something special about seeing what others created in the spaces that companies have created for them.

Imagine a world without advertising, commercials or branding. Sure it is awesome to get out into nature and be surrounded by nothing but mountains and trees, but I can’t imagine a world in which cities weren’t filled with commercials, filled art. I think we all should take a closer look at the next commercial you see and just reflect on home many artists, writers, and salesmen it took to create the piece.

Check out the documentary Art & Copy to get a glimpse into the crazy world of advertising. It can be found on Netflix.

To Attack or Defend?

2011-11-29T11:15:00.001-05:00

By Embra King

The common phrase heard in football locker rooms and military camps "the best defense is a good offense” seems to be well respected in their respected fields. But dose this ideology work when it comes to advertising, is it really better to attack another's product than to promote your own? Samsung seems to think so and without naming any names challenges the Iphone and its apparent dim, Starbucks drinking, following.

The commercial, which aired last week, depicts long lines of bohemian Apple phone users standing in line waiting for the Iphone 4s. As they grumble about the “sketchy battery” and lack of physical changes to the phone, they catch a glimpse of preppy people not waiting in line using the already release Samsung Galaxy S II.

Near the end Samsung tries to pitch that they have a bigger screen and it runs on 4g network, however the only feeling I come away from my multiple viewings was how silly it is that Samsung has narrowed down the Iphone user into this arty hipster, apparently blind to the fact that other phones are out there.

Attacking the completion is nothing new in the wild world of advertising. Audi and BMW have always taken stabs at each other resulting in things such as this billboard campaign. Apple also ran its own attacking campaign, the famous “I am a Mac, and I am a PC” stint. It is a tactic that Politicians utilize many times over, “Vote for me, because the other person is awful.” As a consumer, I am more drawn to seeing why I should buy a product, not why I shouldn’t buy the other guys. To me it seems to take away from your product. If what your selling is worth talking about, than talk about it. Sure it makes for some fun witty advertising, but does it really help move your product?

The fact is, Samsung is jealous; no one is waiting hours and hours to buy their phones, a fact that they poke fun of in their commercial. Apple has a huge share in the phone market thanks to their branding power and creation of beautiful easy to use products. With all this being said, I do like that Samsung has tried to take on the giant that Apple has become, I just wish they had shown a little more backbone and mentioned the phone by name.

Logo Issues

2011-11-18T11:15:00.001-05:00

One of these logos is for a headphone company, the other a blog for moms. A little tricky to decide which is which when they are next to each other; imagine trying to do so if they weren’t side by side.

A company’s logo, once established, is much more than a picture or set of text; it is layers of brand recognition that is available to a consumer with a single glance. When you see two golden arches you immediately know it is McDonalds with their Big Mac’s, golden French fries, and that McRib sandwich that seems to not want to die. We have thousands of memories, experiences and opinions that are all linked to this single logo.

It is like this for thousands of brands across the world, they build a huge brand that can be fit into one single image. It makes advertising much more compact, we do not need McDonald’s mission statement stamped on any of their ads, or the side of their building, we just need to see those golden arches and we all know exactly what is being offered.

But what happens when your logo looks almost identical to that of another companies? Well for hip hop artist Dr. Dre’s headphone company (Beats by Dre) and Disney’s newly acquired mommy blog (Babble) this has seemed to happen. I came across this by chance; when I thought that the ad banner on my computer was for a new set of headphones, and not a blog that features articles about vegan Thanksgiving meal ideas.

The point I am trying to make is that when your designing a logo, you want to make sure there is nothing out there that you can easily be mistaken for yours. Maybe these two companies have such different markets that this will not be a branding issue, but for me it was. I was not able to see the Babble logo and instantly think, “That’s a website for women to go and learn about healthy foods for their children” or even, “what logo is that?” I was thinking about oversized headphones and west coast hip-hop.

The Power of Community

2011-11-15T16:33:00.003-05:00

Last week AT&T released a new commercial entitled “Responsibilities”, a thirty second piece that plays on the idea that everyone in a typical office uses their smart phone for everything but actual work. It has received an explosion of views, about 700,000 YouTube views in just the first four days of being online. Now while this commercial is funny, its popularity doesn’t stem from its humor, or the quality of product it is selling, but rather it is all the attention it has received on Reddit.com.

Nate Dern was making his commercial debut after three years of auditioning and decided to share his success with the community of Reddit. He posted his video on the site last Monday and to his surprise gained an explosion of views over the course of that first day as hundreds of people “up voted” the video promoting it the front page for all to see. People seem to have fallen in love with the idea that one of their own, a fellow Redditor, had made it into a TV spot, and all he says is a simple “Huh?” As this blog post was being written, Nate Dern’s commercial debut has 2882 total “up votes” on Reddit and was at one point the number one link on the websites front page.

What this phenomena is demonstrating is the marketing power that third party post sites are capable of producing. The AT&T commercial is not the first company to benefit from being posted on Reddit however. The spread of Chuck Testa’s taxidermy commercial, and the video of Judge Williams beating his daughter exploded into the homes of millions thanks to the community voting system of Reddit. The site has become powerful tools for spreading news, images, videos, and complaints about companies or services. According to businessinsider.com, Reddit had 1.8 billion viewers in the month of October alone. With this kind of viewership, companies would love for their products or services to get some percentage of this attention.

One reason that Reddit is a powerful tool for spreading information in such a rapid manner is the fact that it does not create exclusive social circles like Facebook or Twitter, but instead lets anyone post and everyone view these posts. Once something is posted anyone can view it and those who have created a free account can vote for or against the post. The more positive votes a link receives, the closer the post will move towards the front page.

The problem with all this however is that the products in the commercials are not the ones benefiting from all the publicity, it is the actors themselves. Sure thousands of people have viewed the commercial, but at the end of it are people thinking I want that phone, or “man what a well executed “huh”? The millions of views that Chuck Testa’s first commercial received has not translated into increased sales. It has however spawned many spin off videos, and started a small demand for Chuck Testa t-shirts. The brand loyalty in this case is to the Mr. Testa and Mr. Dern, not the product they are selling. People online are pushing for Dern to be featured in a second commercial with AT&T, and maybe this time with a couple more lines.

What advertisers need to learn is how to harness the communal benefits of sites such as Reddit or Digg, to create attention around a product much like it has for people. The static advertising word that Don Draper lived in is dying and we are move into a marketing world run by the consumer. It is becoming apparent that companies need to figure out the best way to harness this communal power. It has shown its ability to create a almost cult following for people such as Nate Dern and Chuck Testa, but its potential for creating such a buzz around a product is yet to be tapped.

12 Critical Technology Mistakes Small Businesses Make

2011-10-31T16:46:00.003-04:00

By Brian Roach

Have you ever had that ominous hunch that something bad is going to happen – and then it does? Unfortunately, this gut-wrenching feeling is far-too-familiar for small businesses facing the complexity of information technology.

By its nature, IT is a confusing, expensive and forever-changing animal. Hardware and software sometimes become obsolete within months, let alone a few years. And thanks to budget restraints, many small businesses fall into lethal traps like hiring inexperienced personnel to handle their IT. But it only takes a single mistake to lead to a catastrophic loss of company data, and starting over can be heartbreaking.

Fortunately, it doesn't have to be this way. There are many ways small business owners can learn from the mistakes of others. As a veteran IT professional on the front lines each day, I've listed the top 12 most common errors that small businesses make with IT.

Mistake #1: Using non-functional backup software

Many small business owners assume that just because hardware or software is present, data itself is protected. This is a terrible assumption. Just because a server has an appendage that looks like a tape spooler attached doesn't mean that tape spooler is actually working. At a bare minimum, small businesses should perform testing on backup software every two months. It is far more costly to recover lost data than to perform the proper testing of backup systems.

Mistake #2: Using mass-market equipment to run business-class tasks

Using mass market equipment to run business operations is a fatal error in judgment. That $49 router from Best Buy will simply not perform like a commercial-level one will. The products created for business are expensive because they're designed to keep a company up and running at all times. Many small business owners cut corners just to keep their budgets down, but using inappropriate equipment can cause an extraordinary loss of manpower and resources.

Mistake #3: Overextending the technology lifecycle

That five-year-old PC your receptionist is using probably won't hurt your business when it dies. But if the 10-year-old server under her desk does, it can cripple your entire company. All technology has a set lifecycle. Manufacturers call this life cycle MTBF, or mean time between failures. Any IT person worth their salt can see how many errors hardware is making and judge when it needs to be replaced. Servers and PC hardware, in general, have a lifespan of about 3-5 years. This lifespan depends on how much this equipment is used, but if you're not backing up your IT elements or replacing them often enough, you should start by doing it now.

Mistake #4: Having a "set it and forget it" mentality

This is perhaps the most common error small businesses make when building their technology infrastructure. Make no mistake: IT hardware and software requires routine regular maintenance and adjustment. Think of your IT infrastructure as you would an automobile. If you forget to put oil in your car, your engine will die. Servers and software need continual care so they can perform at optimal levels. As a small business, you should hire someone who can see the Big Picture. If you don't, the question becomes not if you'll have a problem, but when.
Mistake #5: Buying new software while skipping hardware upgrades

This problem stems from the over-marketing of new upgrades from software manufactures. Each company wants you to upgrade to the latest version of software--some even make it impossible for you to function without these upgrades. But many of the newer software platforms require you to upgrade your hardware simultaneously. Many small business owners upgrade their software without even thinking about the hardware, which not only could impact other systems but cause catastrophic performance problems for your overall IT ecosystem.

Mistake #6: Going cheap, regardless of the consequences

Everyone knows that IT--from new software to hardware implementation--is expensive. But not too many small business owners know why. IT elements often cost more because they require a migration from another system or the completion of complex tasks to work optimally. Unfortunately, this is why small businesses, time and again, find themselves in an untenable situation: they choose the cheapest software only to find that some extraordinarily important piece is not included in the purchase. So conduct your due diligence. Buying IT equipment is just like buying a house--and you should only be comfortable when quality workmanship is involved.

Mistake #7: Forgoing user training

This is a problem that's less about equipment and more about human nature. Training is an absolute must for small businesses. Without the proper training on software or hardware, well-intentioned equipment purchases are useless. Small business owners should train their employees on all IT elements whenever possible. A well-trained staff and a solid set of IT equipment will save your company time, money and plenty of headaches. Preserve your investment by keeping staffers up to speed.

Mistake #8: Working without a plan

Planning out IT initiatives or upgrades is a task that should be done, at the bare minimum, once a year. Many companies do this annually just to line up their equipment with pending corporate initiatives. This is a great practice. Mapping out your technology path can impact your entire business. Each small business should not only budget for new hardware, software upgrades or other technological elements, but for additional manpower and technical support. If you plan ahead, that software upgrade or mandatory hardware migration will no longer jump out from nowhere.
Mistake #9: Skimping on security

If you do one thing after reading this article, it should be this: take your security seriously. Many small businesses find it inconceivable that someone would target their business or try to steal their valuable data. Unfortunately, this is the furthest from the truth. Security has become the number one issue for IT environments in the past few years, thanks to online scams, vulnerability in software and networks using improper architecture. As an IT expert, I've come across small business systems that are so vulnerable, their accounting data is readily available on the Internet. Other systems have no anti-virus software or no malware protection, but plenty of insidious spy ware working overtime, capturing everything from login names to passwords. At some small businesses, I've seen criminals use open ports to hack into security camera footage--just to plan a robbery. Spam, malware and viruses pave the way for a devastating security breach. Don't let it happen to you.

Mistake # 10: Using under-qualified people for IT support

On its face, leaving a friend, neighbor or relative in charge of your IT is not necessarily a bad move. But assuming they're capable of such responsibility just because they can download and install software is a bad move. An under-qualified person can never give you good IT advice. Because they've fallen into this trap, many small businesses actually end up spending more money just to correct the mistakes of an under-qualified IT person. If you need outside support for your IT environment, always ask for certification and credentials. A good IT person is always trained and certified to work within the complexities of an IT environment.

Mistake #11: Not knowing what you have?

Ever wonder what's in your IT room? Well, you should. Sometimes small business owners are so busy running their shops that they forget to count their software licenses or keep inventory of how many PCs they have. While countless businesses played it fast and loose years ago, one can't afford to do that now. Strict asset management requirements--straight from the U.S. government--demand that you keep tabs of what you own. The companies of today that wave off asset management may find themselves unable to get a loan or other financing. Asset management is critical. Conducting your first inventory, especially if you've been in business for some time, may be an expensive task. But it will save you much heartache in the long run.

Mistake #12: Using pirated software

Software licensing rules can seem quite unfair. Many small business owners wonder why they should purchase more copies of software when they can simply use one for all their machines. With older software, you could probably get away with this. But with today's ultra-sophisticated software, it's simply a losing bet. Some software companies are cracking down so hard that when you download updates, it alerts them when the software has been used more than once. A company can disable your software completely at just the click of a mouse. Even worse, you could end up facing fines of upwards of $100,000 from the Business Software Alliance. Keep your software licenses up to date and you'll never find yourself in this situation.

Many of the problems tackled here can easily be remedied by using a qualified IT professional. Many IT companies now provide flexible, affordable packages that cover maintenance, support and the overall health of your IT environment. So take your time and do your homework. Plan ahead, spend wisely and hire qualified personnel. The money you spend on IT in the short run may feel like an incredible investment at the time, but it most certainly will pay off in the end.

Google Shows Circle Counts for People In Search Results

2011-10-07T17:13:00.004-04:00

By: Chris Crum

Lately, Google has been placing a lot of emphasis on the importance of who you are on the web. That’s why they want you to use your real name on Google+ (or more broadly, your Google Profile).

This thinking certainly applies to search. This year, Google introduced authorship markup, which helps Google associate various content from a person with that person in search results, and ultimately gets that person’s profile prominence in Google search results. If you ever see a little image of a person off to the side of a search result, which is clickable (leading to that person’s profile), this is likely what you’re seeing.

It’s good for authors to gain exposure, and it helps readers establish some level of trust by simply knowing where a result is coming from (regardless of whether or not they actually trust any specific author). In fact, Google is so concerned about this, it doesn’t even want authors to have profile pictures that are the least bit unprofessional. For example, I know a guy who was using a picture of himself in his Halloween costume for his profile picture, and a Googler actually contacted him and asked him to change it. There was nothing bad about the picture, they just wanted a regular picture of him for his profile pic, presumably so people wouldn’t see anything goofy in the search results, and hurt the perception of Google’s rankings, even if the content it showed up next to was perfectly legitimate.

Google recently posted a pair of videos explaining how to implement authorship markup, if you need a bit of guidance:
It would appear that Google considers how many people have you in Circle on Google+ to be some indication of who you are now.

The Next Web says an unnamed source confirmed that the next step of Authorship Markup is to show the number of Circles you’re in on the search results pages. You can already see it in action for some people.
This actually makes the whole Circle limit thing a little more interesting. If you can only have so many people in your Circles on Google+, you’re not going to want to add just anybody right? In an article this week, we called for Google to get rid of Circle limits because it limits our access to information through Google+, but is this the mindset Google has here?

The bigger names on the web are going to have more connections, so if they can’t put every one of them into a Circle, they’re only going to want to put their top connections in there. I don’t know if this is the way Google is looking at things, but it raises an interesting point, especially with the attention that Klout has been getting (and now its new competitor Kred).

While we don’t know that the number of Circles you are in is a search ranking signal, it seems very likely. Remember, when Google was talking about authorship markup, they said they want to “get information on credibility of authors from all kinds of sources, and eventually use it in ranking.” It seems pretty logical that circle count could play a role.
If I’m wanting to get more Google search respect, I’m trying to get in more Circles.

Why You Can’t Game Google and Bing with +1s and Likes

2011-09-08T18:08:00.007-04:00

By: Chris Crum

Social is more important to search rankings than ever. There’s no doubt about that.
Should +1s and Facebook “likes” be used as significant ranking signals by search engines? Share your thoughts here.

In a recent article, we asked if Google’s +1 button is the new PageRank. As Google uses the data from the button as a ranking signal, +1′s will no doubt be coveted more and more by any site owner looking for increased search visibility and traffic.

As discussed in that article, just as you’ve seen plenty trying to boost their PageRank through black hat tactics, it seems highly likely that these same people will try to exploit the +1 button. Google’s main weapon agains this appears to be tying the +1s to your actual identity, by using a strict profile naming policy.

Google wants to know who is doing this +1ing, which should help cut down on abuse.

Bing’s Duane Forrester wrote a blog post this week talking about a similar topic in the realm of abusing the social signals that search engines use to try and determine what results to show users. Forrester’s focus was on the concept of the “like” farm – basically the social equivalent of the link farm.

Amazingly, though, people think this approach works,” says Forrester. ”The rationale being that social signals matter to search, they can ramp up the volume of the ‘like’ signal in Facebook, causing a related boost in rankings. The logic may seem fine, but when you recall that we can see sudden explosions of links as spammy, it’s easy to understand how we can see sudden explosions of likes as spammy as well. To be fair, there’s more to it than that.”

“Anyone could suddenly ‘go viral’ and accumulate a lot of likes very quickly, so we look beyond just like/time to find patterns,” he explains. “And if there is one thing a search engine is good at, it’s seeing patterns online. Like farms tend to be built around a core network of accounts. You pay someone to like your site, content or whatever, and they go out across their network and like you. It’s artificial and we know it. Organic likes rarely follow obvious patterns. In fact, if there’s a pattern to organic liking, it’s one built around chaos. Like farms, however, no matter their size, end up looking obvious by comparison. In the image below, you can see what an accumulation of likes look like to us when graphed.”

He shares the following graph depicting like activity with the red dots representing a like’s origin and the blue dots representing friends liking the same item. He says the differences between like farm activity and organic activity are “very obvious”.

“In most cases, if we spot like farm activity, we simply ignore the signal,” says Forrester. “Again, you may have paid for a service which is bringing you no value in boosting your search results. This also points out why it is so important that you manage your social media program. At the very least, if you are outsourcing the management of your social program, you need to keep an eye on things. Short cuts can add up eroding any value you were trying to achieve.”

I’m not going to sit here and tell you that it is impossible to game the search engines using social media. Black hatters will always look for (and probably find) new ways to exploit the system for their gain, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy.

Interestingly, a report out from BrightEdge finds that about half of the largest 10,000 sites on the web don’t even display any kind of social sharing link or buttons at all. This is very surprising. As one WebProNews reader commented, “I find that unbelievable! The search engines have flat out admitted that social signals are a ranking factors. Why would a site owner not want to include social share buttons? Let your readers do some of the heavy lifting and get your content promoted in their social networks!”

I would strongly advise making the buttons accessible. Just have the content to give users a reason to click them. Then maybe you won’t have to worry about trying to game the system.

Do you think Google and Bing can keep social button abuse at bay? Tell us what you think.

Facebook Advertising Tips For Brilliant Marketers

2011-08-17T16:26:00.002-04:00

10 Facebook Advertising Tips For Brilliant Marketers
Posted by Nick O'Neill

Your current Facebook ads don’t suck, it’s just that they could be better. When spending money on Facebook advertising, you must monitor your ad spend closely, as the expense can skyrocket and suddenly kill your campaign’s effectiveness. Too many Facebook advertisers are making beginner mistakes that end up making Facebook rich and the marketer broke. Stop making those mistakes! Use these tips below and dramatically increase your Facebook advertising skills.

Split Test Your Ads
One of the most important things for any advertiser is to ensure that the advertisements you are running are the best that they can be. Too often advertisers/marketers will launch a Facebook ad campaign and see that they just spend $100 and got little results and generalize that this must be the case for all campaigns on Facebook. The reality is that your ad campaign probably wasn’t performing well because your ad wasn’t great. The best marketers know that performance comes from testing things out.

In the image below there are two sample ads. In this case we are testing against two interest groups: those that like tunafish and those who enjoy base jumping. I would guess that base jumpers tend to be more passionate and as such they are more likely to respond to an advertisement. I haven’t actually run these ads so I don’t know. However you should test numerous variations. Switch one component of your advertisement at a time and then compare it to another and see which works better.

There are a limited number of variables that you can change, but here are the four primary groups that you should be testing ads against:

•Ad copy – What does the text of your advertisement say? Asking the user to click “Like” below tends to work relatively well.
•Ad image – Test different images to see which ones perform the best. You can get extremely granular and test images within various demographic groups. You may find things such as that pink images work better for females.
•Interest groups – Another thing you should be testing is which interest groups are more passionate (and hence more likely to click). It’s frequently too expensive to target less passionate and less responsive markets as they click on ads much less frequently.
•Demographics within interest groups – Once you find a passionate group, try splitting the ads by gender or age group. You may find that some groups perform better than others. Narrowing this down will help you increase your ads performance and reduce the effective cost per click and cost per action.

Create A Click Through Rate Threshold
While some ads will perform better than others, the last thing you want to do is throw money away at underperforming advertisements. As such, you should develop a click through rate threshold that is acceptable for your campaign. In the image below, we were testing a campaign to drive more fans to a page. Our target was to generate new fans at less that $0.25 per fan. Unfortunately, this advertisement generated 3 fans at a minimum and 21 at a maximum (if all of the clicks to our page converted into fans).

This means our effective cost per fan would have been between $0.65 and $4.60, most likely further toward the high end. The result is that this advertisement was killed for underperformance. Ultimately we probably let this ad run too long, ultimately hurting our overall campaign performance, however this happens to be a long-term campaign, so the $13.80 we spent on this ad probably won’t end up damaging things too much. The main lesson here, is to figure out what sort of click through rate is acceptable to you and immediately kill those ads which are performing up to your standards.

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Use CPM To Test Your Ads
The bottom line is this: CPC (cost per click) is for lazy marketers. Cost per click drives you to perform all of your tests on the landing page (or landing tab of your Facebook Page). This is not the way to do things. Test your ads on a CPM (cost per thousand impressions) basis and find those which drive the lowest CPC. You may end up finding that you’ll get lower CPCs than you would have had you used a CPC bidding model. Using a CPM model will enable you to find which ads perform the best and potentially provide you with the greatest opportunity to minimize the cost of your campaign.

While Facebook previously stated that they were going to position CPC ads in those spots which get the most clicks, we’ve run a number of CPM-based campaigns which perform insanely well. Using CPM you can determine what the real CPC rate should be (based on performance) and you can test which ads perform the best. If you want to let your ad campaigns run on their own without monitoring then, you can switch to CPC, but at least you’ll have discovered which advertisements perform the best.

Monitor Your Campaigns Closely
One thing that you’ll notice when you first begin running advertising campaigns on Facebook is that the performance will degrade over time. That’s because the cost of reaching each subsequent user on Facebook increases incrementally. In other words, the first people who click on an ad tend to be the most responsive to advertisements in general. Once you get through this first wave of people, the cost of reaching the next group will increase.

As such, you need to monitor your daily CTR. Watch how your click through rate performs over time. If you begin to see decreases, you may want to consider either targeting a different target group or switching your advertisement. At a certain point, all advertisements lose their effectiveness. Not monitoring your ad campaigns on a regular basis is for lazy people and those who want to spend more on their ad campaigns.

Test Performance At Different Times
Often times you’ll find that an advertisement will perform better at a different time of day. While Facebook doesn’t let advertisers/marketers select which time of day their ads run, you can turn your ads on and off manually and see which times perform the best. This requires extremely close monitoring however. While Facebook may eventually (and will most likely) ad this type of granular control in the future, no advertiser has control of this right now. If you are spending large amounts on advertising, you may want to test a third-part Facebook advertising partner who will be able to automate the time of day your ads are displayed.

Use A Cost Per Fan Model
I’m personally a huge fan of run advertising campaigns on a cost per fan model. This is because Facebook provides Page administrators with a great reengagement channel: the feed. While email is often one of the best marketing channels, Facebook performs well because quality content gets re-shared by users. That means increasing your fan base increases the likelihood that your content will “go viral” on Facebook. While many email marketing companies, such as MailChimp, are looking at way to make email marketing more social, Facebook Page continue to be one of the best marketing channels.

As such, investing in Facebook advertising on a cost per fan basis is smart because once you get a fan, you can reengage them in the feed. When running cost per fan campaigns, we’ve found that running ads on a CPM basis and optimizing ads on “Cost per action” basis is the best model.

How To Calculate Cost Per Fan
Let’s say that you’ve decided to run an advertising campaign as we’ve described. In order to calculate the cost per fan, run campaigns on a CPM basis. Once you run them, you will see a report like the one pictured below. In order to calculate the cost per fan, simply divide the total campaign amount by the number of “actions” (which is the people who clicked on “Like” in your ad). This will be your estimated cost per fan. The reality is that the people who clicked on the ad (under the column “Clicks”) may have also eventually become a fan, however determining that requires using third party tools or creating your own custom software (which most people don’t want to do).

Even by using the estimated cost per fan model, you should be able to drive fans to a Facebook page for not too much. As you see above, we were able to drive fans at an estimated cost of $0.05 per fan, a rate most people would kill for!

Develop A Creative Reveal Tab
As I mentioned in the last tip, tracking how well those “Clicks” convert to fans is a little more complex. However you should be doing as much as you can to increase the conversion of those clicks into actual fans. One of the best techniques for accomplishing this is by adding a reveal tab. As we previously described, a reveal tab is a simple tool to drive users to click on “Like” to become a fan by rewarding them for their action. The image below depicts a sample reveal tab which promises the “latest breaking terrifying news”, which in all honesty isn’t that big of a promise.

If you wanted to take things one step further you would offer them a free product that they can download as a way to convince the user to click “Like”. We’ll cover this more in depth in a future article.

Bid High To Get Ads Approved Faster
I’m not sure that this is a trick that Facebook wants to be made public, however all frequent Facebook advertisers know that by bidding more, Facebook will respond to your ad submission quicker. Simply put, you can change your bid rate after your advertisements has been approved. However if it’s taking a long time for your ads to get approved, you are losing time that could have been used testing ads. Keep in mind that this trick doesn’t work forever though.

Facebook has a system which prioritizes advertisers based on how much they are spending on a regular basis. If it turns out that you are bidding $1.00 CPMs but always switch it back to $0.03, Facebook will catch on. In other words, don’t use this trick for too long. This is simply an effective technique for new advertisers in the system.

Use Facebook’s Conversion Tracking Tools
While I know I’ve been pushing the cost per fan advertising model on this site for a while, the reality is that not all advertisers/marketers are interested in driving fans. Instead, they’d prefer to drive actions on their own website. Fortunately for those individuals, Facebook has their own tracking tools (which can be found here. While Facebook is still testing this system, it’s an effective technique for determining how well your ads are performing, including how much revenue is being generated from each ad.

Using these tools you can determine if the ads you are running are generating a profit or are instead making you bleed money slowly. Facebook has provided advertisers with the following tracking guide to help them get started. If you aren’t looking to run a cost per fan campaign, then this is probably a tool you should be testing out immediately.

Remember The “Passion Factor”
One thing that many advertisers and marketers frequently don’t consider is that some groups are simply more passionate than others. Base jumpers are probably much more passionate about their recreational activity than basket weavers (although I don’t want to discriminate against my fellow basket weavers). The main thing is this: passionate fans click on ads more often. Your job as the advertiser is to invoke an emotional response to your advertisement and one of the best ways to do this is to target passionate individuals and expose that passion through your ad.

I’ve seen so many boring ads on Facebook, but you don’t need to be one of those individuals who creates the boring ads! Figure out what will generate an emotional response and target those individuals who are most passionate about their interests. Find which interest groups are the most passionate. The more passion, the cheaper your advertising cost.

Conclusion
Use these Facebook advertising tips and you will surely boost the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns. While you can go out and purchase fans directly from companies, the reality is that Facebook’s advertising platform is the single best source of attracting new fans. No matter the size of your Facebook advertising budget, these tips will save you precious dollars which could otherwise be thrown away on low performing ads. If there’s one thing you should take away from this article, this is it: don’t throw your money away at low performing ads, run tests to find the best performing ones. In upcoming articles we will be highlighting additional advertising techniques which will help boost your Facebook advertising campaign performance.

Why Your Link Requests Are Failing

2011-07-29T16:12:00.001-04:00

by Kristi Hines, July 26, 2011

Picture this: You walk up to a local business, walk through the door, up to the first person you see and say "Hi, I'd like you to put this sticker on your window because I sell products that people who come to your establishment might like too." Said sticker is an address to your business.

Think it will be successful? Probably not.

Now let's try this scenario: Instead of asking for them to put a sticker on their window, you pick up one of their mailers to customers and ask them to put your address in the middle of one of their articles, again because readers of the mailer might be interested in your products.

Again, will this probably won't be successful. Your only chance in either scenario is going to be if said local business accepts advertising, in which case you're going to have to pay them to get your business advertised on their window or in their mailer.

Now let's think about quality. Sure the Joe Schmo business next door might take you up on your offer. But what if you tried to walk up to the biggest retail chain in your area and asked them to do the same thing? Would your request be granted? Doubtful.

This is, essentially, what clients want link builders to do for them. They don't want to offer anything of value content-wise, but they want people who have probably never heard of them before to just magically place their name and website address on their website. And it's just about as absurd as the above described scenarios.

So the next time clients are complaining about the fact that the links they get are only paid or only high quality, it's time to turn the tables on them.

It's not you, the link builder, who is to blame because I'm sure you've been successful with clients who have good content on their site, or at least a good reputation.

It's the client that needs work. You need to stop link building and start content development. And not just one piece of content that might not appeal to everyone, but several pieces. Think about developing the kind of content that Wikipedia would find as a suitable resource for one of their pages.

How-to guides, tutorials, detailed histories, facts about the industry, current trends, videos, and so forth. These are the types of content that people will want to link to. No one wants to just link to sales pages and product pages unless the page your targeting specifically says "here are some great resources to buy __."

What if your client refuses to add any link-worthy content to their site? Then tell them that, realistically, the only opportunities you'll be able to get for them are directories, paid advertising links, or other lower hanging fruit.

Why? Because authority sites link to valuable resources - not just products or sales pages, especially if it's you competing against thousands of other stores that offer the same items or services.

In short, your client needs to ensure that their site offers value. If it does, then it will gain links. If not, then they will have to settle for whatever they can get, and that may not be what they optimally are looking for.

71% of Online Americans Visit Video-Sharing Sites by Greg Jarboe, July 27, 2011

2011-07-27T16:35:00.005-04:00

Kathleen Moore of the Pew Internet Project has just written a report that says 71 percent of online Americans now use video-sharing sites such as YouTube and Vimeo, up from 33 percent 4.5 years ago. The use of video-sharing sites on any given day has also jumped, from 8 percent of online Americans in December 2006 to 28 percent in May 2011.

Pew also found that Internet users in rural areas are now just as likely as users urban and suburban areas to have used these sites, and online African-Americans and Hispanics are more likely than Internet-using whites to visit video-sharing sites. In addition, 81 percent of parents in the survey reported visiting video‐sharing sites, compared with 61 percent of the nonparents.

According to Moore, “The rise of broadband and better mobile networks and devices has meant that video has become an increasingly popular part of users’ online experiences.” She added, “People use these sites for every imaginable reason – to laugh and learn, to watch the best and worst of popular culture and to check out news. And video-sharing sites are very social spaces as people vote on, comment on, and share these videos with others.”

In her report, Moore also said, “The rise in use of video‐sharing sites is at least partly being driven by the growth in content on sites like YouTube and by user contributions, which then possibly encourage site visits by contributors’ friends and others who pass around links about popular amateur videos.”

According to the latest statistics from YouTube, 48 hours of content are uploaded every minute to the site and the range of contributions is striking. YouTube lists 28 different categories for channels of video.

YouTube viewership has grown from 8 million views a day by the end of 2005, to over 3 billion views a day in 2011, according to the company’s data. And the company receives over 200 million views a day via mobile connections.

And as I mentioned on July 17, comScore and YouTube are partnering to launch YouTube Partner Reporting this summer. This new enhanced online video measurement feature will break out individual audiences and demographic data for partners and their channels for the first time.

Finally, if you’re going to SES San Francisco 2011 next month, check out these sessions, which will cover YouTube or video marketing:

•Social Media Solutions on a Budget
•Next Gen YouTube Marketing
•SEW Labs - The Use of Video in Social Media
•The Convergence of Search, Social & Content Marketing

Local Online Business Listing Hijacking: Protecting Your Identity

2011-07-20T15:40:00.000-04:00

Jeff Beard, July 15, 2011

Many businesses, local search platforms, and social networks suffer from listings hijackers. Usually, listings hijackers are individuals that attempt to tamper with local business listings, repurposing those online identities for their own benefit. Many of their dubious hijacking methods can be compared to black hat SEO techniques.

Some of these hijackers claim other local business’ organic listings that haven’t been claimed and authorized by a representative of the business itself, because they don't have physical locations, but could benefit from having one due to the business they generate from local markets. Others might hijack listings merely for the competitive advantage of replacing a competitor's online information with their own business name, address, and phone number (NAP) details.

These hijackers and spammers are creating havoc for legitimate local businesses, as well as the local search industry as a whole, because they negatively impact the sanctity of local business listing NAPs (and often categories).

Unfortunately, many local search platforms don't yet offer adequate solutions to stop listings hijackers because a solid verification and authorization process has not been put in place. Most sites aren’t able to verify that the individual claiming or modifying a listing is a true representative of that business.
How Big is the Problem?

To shed some light, here are some statistics from the past 12 months:

In the Localeze database, unauthorized individuals have made more than 11,000 failed attempts to claim listings by changing the business name, phone number, and category within a listing (but not the address).
Nearly 25 percent of unauthorized attempts originated from IP addresses outside the U.S.
Most of these individuals were trying to hijack listings by claiming the listing’s address and changing the category to a service-to-home category. This indicates that the hijackers were likely representatives of a business with no fixed location and/or with a network of mobile workers.

The categories most prone to listings hijackers are largely service-based businesses and include:

Locksmiths (a category which just received mainstream attention in The New York Times)
Plumbing Contractors
Automobile Glass
Computer Service & Repair
Garage Doors & Openers Service and Repair

A Real Life Example of Local Search Business Hijacking

Some hijackers try to take advantage of local business listings outside of these categories by claiming listings from other categories and repurposing them as their own, to generate leads, for sale, for local businesses like plumbers or locksmiths. These individuals are essentially stealing listings illicitly, aggregating leads to build traffic and passing them on to local business customers.

To illustrate the problem, we reviewed a case where an individual attempted to hijack a business listing in Dallas listed as a dental office. The would-be claimer tried to change the business name to “Royal Locksmiths” and replace the local phone number with a toll-free number. They also tried to change the business category from “Dental Offices” to “Locksmiths.”

It was clear the individual trying to claim the listing was questionable. To confirm there was a dental office at the listed address, we called the local phone number in the organic listing and determined the office had been there for more than seven years.

We called the toll-free number submitted for “Royal Locksmiths” and asked when we could stop in to have a key made. Their reply: “We don’t have an office you can come to.”

This is just one example highlighting the chaos that hijackers are creating across the local search business listings ecosystem.
What Should Businesses do to Protect Their Online Identities?

The majority of organic local business listings remain unclaimed and unprotected by an authorized business representative. This leaves those listing identities highly vulnerable to hijacking by spammers, squatters, and even competitors.

To closely guard their online presence and protect their identities, businesses should always verify and claim listings on as many local search platforms and social sites as possible and/or partner with business listing management providers to ensure consistency, governance, and reach. This includes managing listings over time and routinely checking to make sure local online NAP information is appearing correctly. Otherwise, online business listings could be tampered with and disseminated across the local search ecosystem, making it a major challenge for customers to find a local business in online or mobile search results.

5 Reasons Google+ Is Not A Facebook Killer by Dave Davies

2011-07-18T16:58:00.005-04:00

For the past couple weeks, a select gathering of us (likely including many Search Engine Watch readers) have been playing with Google+. It's an interesting social media experiment by Google, but it is likely to remain that. Another "almost ran" in the social media game; another Google property that just won't quite make it. Here are five reasons why.

1. Usability

A huge problem Google will face here is that we all know how we use our social media tools and why.

Let's look back to May 2010, when Facebook had the "audacity" to force a layout change on its users – a change that garnered 1.7 million protests and many more complaints (including one from yours truly). If people are this opposed to simply adjusting how they use a single social media site (and let's be honest, the changes really weren't that significant; no manual required), who's going to want to learn an entirely new layout and way to communicate to do... the same things you can do on Facebook.

The overall layout of Google+ is similar to that of Facebook (coincidence?) but the subtle differences are going to be problematic in a world where you have the user's attention for a whopping five seconds. If they can't find what they're looking for, they're gone.

2. Verbiage

Let's say I tell you I "beige" something... what does that mean to you? Not a whole lot I'd imagine, because you don't have a base of reference for the word "beige" as a vote of support or opposition.

Now let's say I tell you I "like" something... what does that mean to you? Fortunately, we've all gone through our lives "liking" things so we have an easy reference.

I'm pretty sure by now you all see where this is going. None of us has a pre-exposed reference to "+1" as any type of support point. I've never listened to a band in a pub and shouted to the guy next to me, "I really plus one this song... it's awesome!"

People like what they know and from the outset, the idea of +1 as a rating of support has been a point of head scratching and mild snickering. This additional lack of intuitive use is another point against Google in the battle for users' hearts and minds.

3. Usefulness

Google+ has some awesome features. My personal favorite is Circles. That one may want to share something publicly but differently is a concept well grasped by Google.

The friends I went to the pub with and listened to the song I completely "plus one" are different than my co-workers. And goodness knows my SEO friends are different than anyone else I know.

Google created Circles to allow the easy filtering of messages by grouping friends and the easy sharing of images, status updates, etc. to and from these same groups. It's a great idea.

Unfortunately, my dad doesn't have this problem, nor does my sister, nor does my grandmother; in fact, about 80 percent of the people I know are OK with one level of sharing. And if it is a bit of a bother to them, it's less of a bother to put on the personal filter every now and then than to try to adopt yet another communications medium.

Sure, we geeks love new toys and we like to try new things, so we were happy to create a new account, figure out how to use it, play around in the settings, upload our photos again, etc. But how many of your relatives would?

4. Purpose

Sometimes the simple question needs to be asked (and every 2-year-old knows it): Why?

We know why Google wants the project to be successful. If Google+ became even half as successful as Facebook, the information on relationships they could collect and what that could mean to them as far as feeding advertising in our direction more accurately would be incredible. But we're not Google.

Oh sure, we'll play around with Google+, but if your non-tech friends and family don't adopt it, it'll likely become that thing you check every blue moon when you remember it's there.

The problem Google is up against is that Facebook really isn't bad. Plus, it's already got virtually everyone you likely know signed up, connected, profiles built, comments, and history. Why would anyone give that up when there isn't a problem? So you can drop people in Circles as you attempt to rebuild your full friends list and convince your parents to join Google+?

And for those of you thinking, why not use both, I would ask ... why? Do we really want to waste more time updating our statuses – now on multiple websites? Tagging photos, chatting with friends, etc.? I think not.

5. Convenience

I touched on it before, but it's a core issue with Google+ that's worth discussing on its own. Using Google+ is not convenient.

I, like many, am busy. The number of draws on my time increases almost daily, many of these draws from the online world. I've got Facebook, Twitter, Skype, AIM, MSN, forums, a blog, email, the phone and (here comes the shocker) live human interaction. Why on Earth would I want another?

The single biggest problem that Google may be up against right now is that they're fighting a battle from behind. While I anticipate very solid growth early on, once users realize that many of their friends haven't moved over, rather than have to access yet another social media resource to communicate, they'll slowly move back to just the one. The one where all their friends and contacts already are, where they can communicate in one location: Facebook.

Conclusion:

Will Google+ die? Maybe not. It's possible the folks at Google will adapt and focus it more against LinkedIn than Facebook; that battle they could win, as it's the same audience.

But Google+ is not set to become the Facebook killer it's hyped to be. It just doesn't solve any problems worth solving for the majority of people.

And now, back to check my Facebook messages – and maybe Google+, if there's time.

TOP 25 - July 2011 Edition - Charlotte Twitterati™

2011-07-11T17:48:00.000-04:00

This month’s Top 25 is brought to you by
Veranda® ArmorGuard™ Composite Decking

CGR Creative is bringing you the 3rd Edition of our Charlotte Twitterati. The Charlotte Twitterati is our monthly index of the Queen City’s most influential citizens. Each month we present an updated list of the top 25.

Top 25

Jeff Elder - @jeffelder - 128
Donna Maria Coles Johnson - @indiebusiness - 120
Quote Of the Day - @quotetheday - 119
Uncle Bob Martin - @unclebobmartin - 119
Brandon Uttley - @brandonuttley - 115
Mommywords - @mommywords - 114
Jeff Gluck - @jeff_gluck - 114
TweetMyJOBS- @tweetmyjobs - 114
Osfoora - @osfoora - 114
Brad Williams - @chrisharrisnfl - 108
Charlotte Observer - @theobserver - 107
Genevieve Jooste - @GenevieveJooste - 105
Denny Hamlin - @dennyhamlin -104
Robert Enriquez - @roberte - 102
Mysty Wuori - @mysticle - 103
Jenna Fryer -@jennafryer - 100
The Android Site - @theandroidsite -99
Lauriana Zukowski - @laurianaz -99
Sandy Salle - @hillsofafrica -98
Marc DeCaria - @MarcDecaria - 98
SPEED - @speed - 97
Discovery Place - @discoveryplace - 91
Scott Speed - @scottspeed - 90
Brandon Kirkley - @brandonkirkley - 89
Jeff Gordon - @jeffgordonweb - 87

How We Calculate It
The Top 25 is determined by combining individual scores from Klout.com and PeerIndex.net. We get the initial list from the top 50 listed on TwitterGrader.com and WeFollow.com. We create a list of all the names and then look at their Klout and PeerIndex scores. The composite totals give us the monthly Charlotte Twitterati.

Charlotte, NC
According to TwitterGrader.com, Charlotte is the 27th most active city in the United States and 41st in the World. This is based on number of users listing Charlotte, NC on their Twitter profile.

Follow the Twitterati
http://twitter.com/#!/cgrcreative/charlotte-twitterati
Keep up with the Joneses by subscribing to our list on Twitter which tracks every member of the Twitterati in one group.

About CGR Creative
CGR Creative is a full-service advertising agency located in Charlotte's historic Southend area. We offer web design, graphic design, search engine optimization, printing

Who Did We Miss?
Do you have any recommendations for a highly influential, Charlotte-based user we missed? Please send us an email with your nomination and we will add them to the index. Send your message to twitterati@cgrcreative.com

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter as well - twitter@cgrcreative.

CGR Creative's Charlotte Twitterati

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When is the Best Time to Start a PPC Campaign?

2011-07-01T16:41:00.004-04:00

Pay-Per-Click, or PPC Search Engine Marekting is quite lucrative for Google and the other tier one search engines. The online market dictates competition which yields higher Cost-Per-Clicks. Some keywords could cost anywhere from $2.00 to an upwards of $82.00 per keyword phrase. It's pretty insane. It does work to increase new acquisitions though.

What are the benefits to PPC? You can get your ad rotated right on page one of Google, Bing or Yahoo/MSN. If you run through your budget, your ad will find its way off the Search Engine Results page as quickly as it got there. If you are strategic in your efforts to market your NEW product or service, even remarket it, then you might find PPC is well worth the money. If you are a highly competitive business, you may want to consider running a small PPC campaign. The great thing about Adwords is you can target any geo location to rotate your advertisements. You will also see where every dollar is going as long as your tracking is set up correctly. Then you can decide if the Return on your Investment is there or not. If you don't have a decent budget to invest in PPC, then don't waste your time. Try another marketing strategy that benefits your budget.

Once you set up your Adwords campaign, be sure to link it to Google Analytics for more robust metrics. You will be able to measure page views, unique visitors, bounce rate and more. It gives you a great gauge for your performance and helps you optimize accordingly. If you are not too savvy with managing and optimizing online campaigns, definitely hire an agency do it for you. You will find it's worth a few extra bucks to pay an expert in the grand scheme of things.

After you get your name out on the web via PPC, it's best to work on a simultaneous SEO and social media/PR campaign to continue the legacy.

SEO -Too Fast or Too Slow?

2011-06-29T14:26:00.009-04:00

It's always a challenge getting top placement on Google. Many like to think their sites magically make it to page one without any hard work. There is a secret sauce we like to use for our clients in order to get them page 1 ranked. Typically we provide a competitive keyword analysis to get you started and let you know which keywords you should be targeting for your business. Then we do our thing and Voila! Your site will start to make its way up the ranks. Part of the success is attributed to the hundreds of SEO tools offered online. It's definitely finding the right combination of tools and implementation to make things happen.

Let's be real, how long should you expect until you start to see results and moving up the ranks? Depending on how competitive your keywords are will determine how much work needs to go into the backend. Sometimes you can go from page 2 to page 1 in Google in a few short weeks; sometimes it's days. If you are targeting a bunch of highly competitive keywords, it might take a few months before strategy lends itself to Rockstar placement.

Also pay attention to your sitemap; as you make updates to your site, your sitemap will change and it's important to update it with Google. There are a plethora of google webmaster tools to aid in getting things done when it comes to sitemaps, blogs, tracking and more. When designing a new website, you must implement SEO tactics from the getgo. Don't wait because it's that much harder when you have to implement after you launch. The web design is everything as long as it's SEO friendly.

If you are employing all possible SEO efforts and you don't see any viable results, it might be time to contact a professional. SEO is more than fixing some onsite metadata. Keep that in mind and know that the value of good placement means everything as new visitors to your site equates to conversions.

TOP 25 - June 2011 Edition - Charlotte Twitterati™

2011-06-10T15:54:00.009-04:00

This month’s Top 25 is brought to you by Pro GFE Calculator™ - title insurance rate calculator

CGR Creative is excited to bring you the second posting of our Charlotte Twitterati. The Charlotte Twitterati is our monthly index of the Queen City’s most influential citizens. Each month we present an updated list of the top 25.

Last month we had over 8,000 page views from all over, coming to check out Charlotte's TOP 25. So keep up the great work, and we'll continue to recognize those individuals who are spreading positive influence to the masses.

Top 25

Jeff Elder - @jeffelder - 123
Donna Maria Coles Johnson - @indiebusiness - 122
Quote Of the Day - @quotetheday - 119
mommywords - @mommywords - 116
Uncle Bob Martin - @unclebobmartin - 116
Chris Harrington - @chrisharrington
Jeff Gluck - @jeff_gluck - 114
TweetMyJOBS- @tweetmyjobs - 114
Brandon Uttley - @brandonuttley - 110
Robert Enriquez - @roberte - 108
Mysty Wuori - @mysticle - 107
Osfoora - @osfoora - 107
Charlotte Observer - @theobserver - 104
Brad Williams - @chrisharrisnfl - 103
The Android Site - @theandroidsite - 101
Genevieve Jooste - @GenevieveJooste - 100
Lauriana Zukowski - @laurianaz -99
Sandy Salle - @hillsofafrica -99
Discovery Place - @discoveryplace - 94
Marc DeCaria - @MarcDecaria - 93
SPEED - @speed - 93
Denny Hamlin - @dennyhamlin - 92
Scott Speed - @scottspeed - 91
Bite of Charlotte - @biteofcharlotte - 89
Jeff Gordon - @jeffgordonweb - 89

CGR Creative's Charlotte Twitterati

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Introducing the Charlotte Twitterati™

2011-05-09T11:11:00.015-04:00

May 2011 Edition

This month’s Top 25 brought to you by Fiberon Composite Decking.

CGR Creative is proud to introduce the first monthly installment of our Charlotte Twitterati.
The Charlotte Twitterati is our monthly index of the Queen City’s most influential citizens. Each month we will present an updated list of the top 25.

Top 25

Jeff Elder - @jeffelder - 117
TweetMyJOBS- @tweetmyjobs - 116
mommywords - @mommywords - 115
Chris Harrington - @chrisharrington - 113
Donna Maria Coles Johnson - @indiebusiness - 112
Mysty Wuori - @mysticle - 112
Jeff Gluck - @jeff_gluck - 111
Genevieve Jooste - @GenevieveJooste - 110
Osfoora - @osfoora - 110
Brandon Uttley - @brandonuttley - 109
Charlotte Observer - @theobserver - 103
Lauriana Zukowski - @laurianaz - 102
Sandy Salle - @hillsofafrica - 102
Uncle Bob Martin - @unclebobmartin - 99
Bridget Haymond - @bridgethaymond - 96
Discovery Place - @discoveryplace - 94
Denny Hamlin - @dennyhamlin - 94
Scott Speed - @scottspeed - 93
Jenna Fryer - @JennaFryer - 93
Marc DeCaria - @MarcDecaria - 92
Charlotte Bobcats - @bobcats - 91
SPEED - @speed - 90
Corey Anderson - @coreyanderson - 88
The Android Site - @theandroidsite - 88
Kathleen Hessert - @kathleenhessert - 87

How We Calculate It
The Top 25 is determined by combining individual scores from Klout.com and PeerIndex.net. We get the initial list from the top 50 listed on TwitterGrader.com and WeFollow.com. We create a list of all the names and then look at their Klout and PeerIndex scores. The composite totals give us the monthly Charlotte Twitterati.

Charlotte, NC
According to TwitterGrader.com, Charlotte is the 27th most active city in the United States and 41st in the World. This is based on number of users listing Charlotte, NC on their Twitter profile.

Follow the Twitterati
http://twitter.com/#!/cgrcreative/charlotte-twitterati
Keep up with the Joneses by subscribing to our list on Twitter which tracks every member of the Twitterati in one group.

About CGR Creative
CGR Creative is a full-service advertising agency located in Charlotte's historic Southend area. We offer web design, graphic design, search engine optimization, printing

Who Did We Miss?
Do you have any recommendations for a highly influential, Charlotte-based user we missed? Please send us an email with your nomination and we will add them to the index. Send your message to Will Lang - will@cgrcreative.com

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter as well - @cgrcreative.

CGR Creative's Charlotte Twitterati

Get the Code:

Chief Creative Officer talks Social Media with LACC President, Dr. Edith Valladares McElroy

2010-10-14T11:35:00.003-04:00

CGR Creative's Chief Creative Officer & Partner, Julio Colmenares to speak to Charlotte to Business Professionals

When: Monday, October 18, 2010 | 06:00PM - 08:00PM

Where: The Dunhill Hotel -237 N. Tryon St. Charlotte, NC 28202 Show Location map

What: Monthly CharlotteBP networking meeting.
See a list of people registered to attend.
The Charlotte Business Journal's Erik Spanberg tweeted today October 14 during the Charlotte Retreat in Pinehurst (twitter hash tag #cltplan)

"Keys for diversity include possible launch of chamber campaign to get companies to spend 10% with local small biz each year. #cltplan"

Dr. Valladares McElroy and Colmenares not only have their finger on the pulse of the Latin American business community in but Charlotte small business community period with over 2 decades of combined experience.
When asked to give a preview of his social media speech Julio said,

"What 'new media' means changes rapidly so the question becomes, "how can I keep current without going crazy or bankrupt?" The answer is simple, "Jump In!" Learning to swim requires that you get in the pool. You can research, compare, look to your competitor, etc. but eventually you must get wet. I want to teach small businesses how to take new media and promote their business"

Join in to what will surely be time well spent.

The (Yes THE) CGR Creative Web Design Checklist: Part 1- Favicons

2010-10-12T14:46:00.001-04:00

Good Website Design is Authoritative

The web is full -- full of more stuff than one person can read in many lifetimes. How do you stand out?

Authority.

Authority is what makes a website stand out.

We have all seen websites that look homemade. An authority site is polished.

Polish is obtained in the details.

All polished authority sites use favicons. You will be very hard-pressed to find an authority website that does not use favicons.

Favicons are the little emblem that show at the top in your browser next to your website’s title.

In this image you can see the flame icon and the twitter bird icon on the tabs above.

Favicons are subtle, but these small subtle steps are the difference between an authority site that wins appeal and a marginal site that gets the back button.

Be an authority. Charlotte’s greatest web designers are standing by.

CGR Creative

__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5525 (20101012) __________

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com

THE (yes "THE") CGR Creative Web Marketing Checklist: Introduction

2010-10-06T14:13:00.006-04:00

Did you get an A in Web Marketing?

We are going to drop the knowledge on you beginning today in our new online series (no charge for awesomeness).

THE ( yes, "THE") CGR Creative Web Marketing Checklist.

This is the last check list you will need. Why? Because it is the most awesome checklist in the world. We're talking about 20 pages long and two columns wide of little golden checkboxes to help you become the shining star of your little internet slice of heaven.

What about Cross browser functionality? Navigation? Buttons? Privacy Policy?

Man. We're with you!

And when we say "we're with you" we don't mean "we're with you." We mean, "put us on your payroll after you knock it out of the park!"

You may want to get a biscuit to sop this up. Definitely a napkin because this is going to be GOOD.

Don't worry, as long as you pay your electric bill, we'll wait... Got it? OK.

Part 1. - How to Pick a Kick-A...Awesome Domain Name and URL

What do you call yourself. What do you do? This is all huge. Like, invent-a-time-machine huge. Google "Credit Cards" and see what the first natural #1 result is after the paid and news items. #2 is Visa and #1 is not Mastercard. That ranking is natural and the traffic is free. You can see, even at $12 per click, there are more ads on this page than stormtroopers at the original Death Star opening (before the remix).

Step 1

Figure out your #1 keyword. What would you type into Google to find that so sweet special thing you have to offer. Youtube and Facebook are one in a million. Domains that exactly match (exact match) your keyword or have the keyword in them (phrase match) is the fastest way possible (period!) to get to the top of Google. www.creditcards.com is not as powerful of a website as Visa.com nor do they have the same budget I can assure you. This is so powerful that if ninjas would have known this fact they probably would have gone into web marketing instead of becoming ninjas.

Check us out at The Hottest Advertising Agency in Charlotte NC for more information about web marketing!

Hit the Digg button (bottom right)!! Fun things will happen.

Charlotte Web Design Advertising Tips

2010-06-30T14:50:00.000-04:00

Web design is all about driving traffic, without traffic to a site no e-commerce or brand awareness can occur. So your biggest concern when advertising on the web or designing a web site is how you are going to drive traffic to specific pages within your web site. Obviously some form of online advertising is suggested, but there are so many options out there that this can get overwhelming. When you add in the industry terms like PPC (Pay per Click), SEO (Search Engine Optimization), CMS (Content Management System), etc. it just becomes a blur of acronyms and Internet babble. At CGR Creative we do our best to simplify the process. Our clients run the gamut from Internet savvy professionals to novice business owners that know they, "just need a good web site." No matter what your level of expertise we can help make your online based advertising more successful.

We have compiled a list of Web Advertising Tips that we think are the core of a good online campaign. These represent tried and true ways to increase traffic to your site whether it has been around for years or weeks, and while CGR Creative is based in Charlotte, North Carolina these tips will work no matter where you are located!

CGR Creative's Web Design Advertising Tips

1 Update and maintain your website in every way possible using blogs, social media, online articles, etc. Basically branding yourself within your market.

2 Contribute to any and all reputable online forums, groups, or associations within your market. Many of these exist online and it is therefore easy to maintain a more constant presence than with traditional groups.

3 Always collect the name and email addresses of visitors to your business, trade shows, or your web site. Send these contacts relevant updates and a company newsletter.

To see tips 4 through 7 simply visit: http://cgrcreative.com/latest-news/177-charlotte-web-des ...

Again these tips are really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to online advertising, but they represent low cost ways to establish your brand. At CGR Creative we work with all our clients to help place their business exactly where they want it. Call us today to see what we can do for you!

Charlotte based CGR Creative is a full service advertising agency offering cutting edge Web Design and more. CGR Creative prides itself on supporting their customers in a way that larger agencies can’t, often times committing all their resources to ensure the success of their client’s projects. CGR Creative’s fundamental belief is that the client’s success is their success. The agency, with an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fully bi-lingual, with a Latino marketing division that offers a variety of marketing channels that are specifically targeted to reach the Hispanic market.

Before You Design Your Website Answer these Questions

2010-06-22T10:30:00.002-04:00

Charlotte Web Design Specialists CGR Creative Lists Six Questions your Business Should Answer Before Designing Your Website

If you are serious about developing a successful business in today's marketplace, taking the time to educate yourself about modern Web Development, Web Site Design, Internet Marketing, Online Promotions, Copywriting and Search Engine Optimization is of the utmost of importance.

Above all else, your first priority must be your website. If your site does not look professional, all of your marketing and promotional efforts will be wasted. Although you may be able to drive traffic to your web site, if it is poorly planned and looks unprofessional, you will most likely not make any sales.

We highly recommend visiting CGR Creative to contact us about designing a highly professional looking web site. It will be well worth the price, as it will save you a great deal of time and effort.

In addition to developing a professional web site, you must also know exactly what you will be selling and we can help design your web site accordingly. This should include developing your web site's theme, sales strategy, marketing strategy and promotional strategy. Each part of this web development strategy will play an important role in your success.

The answers to these questions will assist you in developing a successful web presence. For additional information, make sure you don't miss http://cgrcreative.com/latest-news/176-charlotte-web-design-specialists-cgr-creative

Charlotte Web Design Specialists CGR Creative Lists Six Questions your Business Should Answer Before Designing Your Website

2010-05-28T16:35:00.001-04:00

Charlotte Web Design Specialists CGR Creative Lists Six Questions your Business Should Answer Before Designing Your Website

Charlotte’s Web Design specialists CGR Creative explains the importance behind answering these six questions before designing your company’s website. CGR takes pride in taking the time to fully research a client’s market and industry before beginning any creative project. Located in the historic South End neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina, CGR Creative has been quietly cranking out some of the best web design in the Country.

Answering these six questions can literally put your business on the map, and you need to do that before you put it on the web! Give CGR Creative a call today to see how we can help meet your business' design needs.

CGR Creative’s Six Web Design Questions

Who is your client? It is critical that you identify your target market. This is not as simple as it sounds. Often business owners make assumptions about their market that do not stand up to investigation. Knowing your core demographic can inform design decisions and directly influence the effectiveness of your web site.

What problem are you solving? In order to be really successful you must solve a problem for your customers. Your first job is to inform your audience about the problem and then direct their attention to your ingenious solution. The more dramatic the problem the more valuable your solution becomes.

What is your core service or product? What product or service are you most interested in selling? Often this is not the most or least expensive option you have available. At the movies this is called MEDIUM. What product or service has the highest profit to effort ratio? In other words what is your company best at?

For the last three questions please visit Charlotte Web Design Specialists CGR Creative!

Pictures From Julio's Presentation

2010-05-24T15:45:00.002-04:00

Pictures From Julio's Presentation

Top Ten SEO Tips From Charlotte's Web Design Experts CGR Creative

2010-05-20T14:28:00.007-04:00

Top Ten SEO Tips From Charlotte's Web Design Experts CGR Creative

Today Julio Colmenares of Charlotte based CGR Creative addressed a luncheon crowd on the topic of new media and web design. One of the questions from the audience was, "What are the top 10 things you can do do get your site ranked higher on Google?" Julio explained how each of these ideas work and how to gain maximum benefit from them. We think that question was worth addressing again here on our blog, so here is your Top 10 list of Search Engine Optimization Tips:

10. Titles - Each page within your site should have a unique title that is relevant to your business and the content on that particular page.

9. Keyword Rich Content - Every page should have at least 250 words of plain text that contains the relevant keywords from your page title. It is best if those keywords are mentioned in the first few lines.

8. Don't Use Frames - Frames prevent search engines from searching the content on your site. If you view the source of your web page and you don't see the content of your page your site is hiding that content from search engines.

7. Don't Use Graphics in Place of Text - Search engines can't search the content of pictures yet, so they can't read your cool graphic that explains what your business is about. Use plain HTML text throughout your site.

6. Avoid Flash Heavy Content - Just like pictures, search engines can't read the content of Flash files, but worse many browsers and even more mobile phones can't see Flash files at all.

5. Tag All Your Media Files - For the pictures and graphics you do have on your site, make sure you fill out their alt tags and meta tags as completely as possible. Be sure to repeat your keywords here as well.

4. Don't Create Outgoing Links - Outgoing links send search engines the message that your content is not as valuable as that of the pages you are linking to. You never want to have more outgoing links than you have incoming.

3. Create Incoming Links - Incoming links make your content look more valuable. Search engines will begin to treat your site more like an expert on your subject with every additional incoming link. Social media can really help here.

2. Keep Page Viewers Occupied - Search engines actually monitor how long viewers stay on your site. So, make sure all your pages have visually pleasing, fast loading, interesting content.

1. Update Your Content Regularly - The best way to keep moving up the search engine ladder is to continually update your content. This keeps your site looking valuable to search engines and it promotes new visits from existing viewers which also increases your rankings.

Charlotte based CGR Creative is a full service advertising agency offering cutting edge Web Design and more. CGR Creative prides itself on supporting their customers in a way that larger agencies can’t, often times committing all their resources to ensure the success of their client’s projects. CGR Creative’s fundamental belief is that the client’s success is their success. The agency, with an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fully bi-lingual, with a Latino marketing division that offers a variety of marketing channels that are specifically targeted to reach the Hispanic market.

Julio Colmenares of Charlotte's CGR Creative Talks About New Media

2010-05-18T08:37:00.001-04:00

Julio Colmenares of Charlotte's CGR Creative Talks About New Media

Don't forget to take advantage of this great opportunity! Join us on May 20, 2010 and learn how to leverage technology to build awareness of your company. What 'new media' means changes rapidly so the question becomes, "how can I keep current without going crazy or bankrupt?" The answer is simple, "Jump In!" Learning to swim requires that you get in the pool. You can research, compare, look to your competitor, etc. but eventually you must get wet. Julio Colmenares teaches you how to take control of new media and promote your business! Let's grow your business! Only $19.50!

The event will be held from 11:30 to 1:00 at Vivace Italian Restaurant in Charlotte. Vivace offers five star quality at 3 star prices with excellent presentation and service.

Click here to sign up today!

About CGR Creative: Charlotte based CGR Creative is a full service advertising agency, marketing firm, design studio, and interactive marketing agency. CGR Creative prides itself on supporting their customers in a way that larger agencies can’t, often times committing all their resources to ensure the success of their client’s projects. CGR Creative’s fundamental belief is that the client’s success is their success. The agency, with an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fully bi-lingual, with a Latino marketing division that offers a variety of marketing channels that are specifically targeted to reach the Hispanic market.

CGR Creative of Charlotte Takes you on a Tour of their new TrackIt Advertising Software

2010-05-11T07:34:00.001-04:00

CGR Creative of Charlotte Takes you on a Tour of their new TrackIt Advertising Software

CGR's new TrackIt software allows advertisers like you to track every aspect of marketing efforts. Now you can measure and optimize the performance of your marketing and advertising efforts. By placing unique call measurement numbers on each of your marketing mediums (i.e. website, print, direct-mail, radio) you can discover which ads deliver the most, and best leads.

You know marketing goes beyond placing a few ads and hoping for the best. Our platform makes your company smarter and more efficient.

TrackIt Targeting

Ensure callers and web visitors reach the right agent at the right time Our communication software uses intelligent routing rules, ensuring you will no longer miss important leads or communication

TrackIt Analytics

Take the guesswork out of advertising Track phone calls, chats, and clicks that result from print and web campaigns
Shows which ads are working and giving you the most bang for your buck

TrackIt Awareness

Deliver the right message everytime Incoming conversations are preceded by a quick audible announcement about the referring source that generated the lead
Calls and chats from your website will be associated with the exact keywords that led the visitor to the website and then every page that was viewed prior to the conversation

TrackIt Knowledge

Gain insight into how well you communicate with your customers and salespeople

TrackIt Website Tracking

Fast implementation - simply load our script on all of your web pages
Track referring websites and keywords that lead to a website visit
Add value by assigning specific conversion goal pages

A retailer’s directions page
Service appointment form confirmation at a car dealership

Listen to actual phone calls and see the visitor’s click path that led him/her to pick up the phone
Email reports - schedule or send personalized e-mails containing the exact information you want to share

TrackIt Live Website Chat

The online chat tool offers immediate online
assistance to your website’s users. Chat provides great
scalability for your staff, as a single agent can handle
numerous simultaneous conversations.
Provide quick responses to visitors on your website
Convert “just looking” visitors into viable leads
Chat icon only appears when someone is present to field questions
Analyze referring sites and keywords that led to a chat
Reduce operating costs and increase productivity
Instantly engage website visitors
View a visitor’s click path leading to and after a chat Take web analytics to the next level by measuring the phone calls that your site produces. Now you can relate phone calls to the specific referring sites and keywords that lead to an offl ine conversion.

About CGR Creative: Charlotte based CGR Creative is a full service advertising agency, marketing firm, design studio, and interactive marketing agency. CGR Creative prides itself on supporting their customers in a way that larger agencies can’t, often times committing all their resources to ensure the success of their client’s projects. CGR Creative’s fundamental belief is that the client’s success is their success. The agency, with an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fully bi-lingual, with a Latino marketing division that offers a variety of marketing channels that are specifically targeted to reach the Hispanic market.

Hidden Marlboro Advertising in Formula 1?

2010-05-07T16:20:00.003-04:00

As with almost all other forms of racing Formula 1 took a huge hit when cigarette companies were no longer allowed to advertise on the cars, tracks, broadcasts, etc. Well recently it seems like Marlboro may be blurring the lines... LITERALLY.

These are images of the new Ferrari Formula 1 race car sponsored in part by Phillip Morris makers of Marlboro cigarettes. We'll let you be the judge.

Here is the top view of the 2010 Ferrari Scuderia (Marlboro) F1 car which does not seem to be controversial at all in fact you are probably wondering what were on about.

The side view begins to illustrate our point. If you are familiar with the Marlboro brand the "bar code" looking section should at least remind you of the cigarette brand's logo.

This angled view was the clincher for us. Look at it and imagine the car passing you at race speed. What impression will you be left with?

Here is the Marlboro sponsored Ferrari from 2005 before the tobacco companies were forced out. It illustrates both how much of a role tobacco played in the sport and it goes to show how closely the new graphics resemble the Marlboro logo.

The branding goes beyond just the car and can be found on everything associated with the team including uniforms, equipment, advertising, promotional items, etc.

At this point it should be pretty clear that Marlboro is back in Formula 1.

About CGR Creative: Charlotte based CGR Creative is a full service advertising agency, marketing firm, design studio, and interactive marketing agency. CGR Creative prides itself on supporting their customers in a way that larger agencies can’t, often times committing all their resources to ensure the success of their client’s projects. CGR Creative’s fundamental belief is that the client’s success is their success. The agency, with an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fully bi-lingual, with a Latino marketing division that offers a variety of marketing channels that are specifically targeted to reach the Hispanic market.

CGR Creative goes to the Movies: Iron Man 2 Review

2010-05-05T08:39:00.001-04:00

CGR Creative goes to the Movies: Iron Man 2 Review

Iron Man 2 is Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment highly anticipated sequel to the blockbuster film “Iron Man,” based on the successful Marvel comic franchise of the same name.

Iron Man 2 reunites director Jon Favreau and Oscar® nominee Robert Downey Jr. The basic plot rundown has the world aware that billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is the armored super hero Iron Man and he is under pressure from the government, the press and the public to share his technology with the military. However, Tony is unwilling to divulge the secrets behind the Iron Man armor. The film also features Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle) as Stark's #1 employee and best friend respectively.

The main plot follows Tony Stark's quest to keep the Iron Man armor a corporate secret while a competing weapons firm, with pentagon contracts, tries to undermine Stark's credibility and to gain access to the Iron Man technology. Mickey Rourke plays the son of a former Russian Stark Industries Associate who was disgruntled to say the least at the way Howard Stark, Tony's father, handled the termination of that relationship.

Iron Man 2 is not a groundbreaking original look at the super hero film, the first film filled that role, the sequel is an extension of the first movie and a very successful one. It is funnier, more relevant, and if possible visually more impressive than the first film. In fact the only possible drawback is that the first film was so good at getting audiences to suspend their disbelief that no sequel can ratchet that up more than just a few notches. Iron Man 2 is a blast and we give it four thumbs up!

To add your feedback visit us on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CGRCreative and click on Discussions.

Charlotte Ad Agency CGR Creative Launches New ROI Tracking System

2010-04-30T18:24:00.002-04:00

Charlotte Ad Agency CGR Creative Launches New ROI Tracking System

April 30, 2010 - Charlotte, NC Charlotte Ad Agency CGR Creative has developed a new method of tracking the performance of your advertising dollars. Now, advertising clients can track exactly how effective all of their advertising elements are. CGR's new TrackIt System can measure online and offline advertising components. From business cards and billboards to email blasts and web promotions CGR can now pin down exactly how many clicks, calls, and orders are being generated and by which particular advertising element. For example if a company advertised the same product on three different websites, five billboards, a postcard, two flyers, and four magazine ads CGR Creative can now track how many website visits, telephone calls, and orders were generated by each of those fifteen different campaign components. Then the customer can make an educated decision regarding which efforts to maintain and which to discontinue. If one of the magazine ads isn't generating results the client can put those funds toward an area of the campaign that is working.

This level of detailed information used to exist only for online advertising elements, but CGR's TrackIt System provides return on investment information for every type of marketing or advertising effort. The applications are limitless. If a company wants to compare three similar advertising ideas they can simply measure which of the three provides the best results. In the past many companies have relied on their staff to ask clients, "Where did you hear about us?" or worse they asked their clients to fill out annoying little comment cards. Neither of those methods have ever provided accurate information, the forgetful employee or the less than enthused client are hard challenges to overcome. CGR's TrackIt System is totally seamless so the user never sees a survey, interacts with a username, or enters a password. The system is invisible to your clients and to your staff.

For more information on CGR's TrackIt System visit: http://www.cgrcreative.com

About CGR Creative: Charlotte based CGR Creative is a full service advertising agency, marketing firm, design studio, and interactive marketing agency. CGR Creative prides itself on supporting their customers in a way that larger agencies can’t, often times committing all their resources to ensure the success of their client’s projects. CGR Creative’s fundamental belief is that the client’s success is their success. The agency, with an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fully bi-lingual, with a Latino marketing division that offers a variety of marketing channels that are specifically targeted to reach the Hispanic market.

Julio Colmenares of CGR Creative to Speak About New Media in Charlotte

2010-04-26T17:20:00.001-04:00

Julio Colmenares of CGR Creative to Speak About New Media in Charlotte

Thursday, May 20, 2010 Julio Colmenares, Chief Creative Officer of CGR Creative, will be speaking at Working Charlotte Magazine's Lunch and Learn Series. Join us on May 20, 2010 and learn how to leverage technology to build awareness of your company.

What 'new media' means changes rapidly so the question becomes, "how can I keep current without going crazy or bankrupt?" The answer is simple, "Jump In!" Learning to swim requires that you get in the pool. You can research, compare, look to your competitor, etc. but eventually you must get wet. Julio Colmenares teaches you how to take control of new media and promote your business! Join us for a Business-to-Business Lunch & Learn designed specifically with you in mind, Charlotte's small and medium sized business owners. Let's grow your business! Attending this event only costs $19.50!

The event will be held from 11:30 to 1:00 at Vivace Italian Restaurant in Charlotte. Vivace offers five star quality at 3 star prices with excellent presentation and service.

About CGR Creative: Charlotte based CGR Creative is a full service advertising agency, marketing firm, design studio, and interactive marketing agency. CGR Creative prides itself on supporting their customers in a way that larger agencies can’t, often times committing all their resources to ensure the success of their client’s projects. CGR Creative’s fundamental belief is that the client’s success is their success. The agency, with an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fully bi-lingual, with a Latino marketing division that offers a variety of marketing channels that are specifically targeted to reach the Hispanic market.

For more info on CGR Creative visit http://www.cgrcreative.com

Vervé Beauty, Charlotte Spa and Salon announces CGR Creative as 'Advertising Agency of Record'

2010-04-22T13:05:00.000-04:00

Vervé Beauty, Charlotte Spa and Salon announces CGR Creative as 'Advertising Agency of Record'

Charlotte, NC, April 22, 2010 - Vervé Beauty, Charlotte's most luxurious Spa and Salon, formally announces the renewal of CGR Creative as their 'Advertising Agency of Record' to manage the Vervé brand image. CGR Creative has worked with Vervé in the past, developing their brand, collateral, and web presence.

Vervé Beauty offers the highest level of spa services from massages and facials to their signature Therapeutic Manicures and Pedicures. Verbena Wilson owns and operates Vervé Beauty with an eye toward merging the relaxation of hair care and spa services under one roof. Verbena has been a Licensed Cosmetologist for over 20 years and she and her team of highly qualified stylists and technicians truly offer a complete experience of beauty and therapy.

"We are proud to have been named 'Advertising Agency of Record' for Vervé Beauty," affirms CGR Creative's, Jason Ramsey. "We look forward to further developments including a possible product launch in 2010." CGR Creative has already partnered with Vervé on several magazine advertisements and email campaigns so this is just the next logical step for a great business relationship to take.

About CGR Creative: Charlotte based CGR Creative is a full service advertising agency, marketing firm, design studio, and interactive marketing agency. CGR Creative prides itself on supporting their customers in a way that larger agencies can’t, often times committing all their resources to ensure the success of their client’s projects. CGR Creative’s fundamental belief is that the client’s success is their success. The agency, with an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fully bi-lingual, with a Latino marketing division that offers a variety of marketing channels that are specifically targeted to reach the Hispanic market.

For more info on CGR Creative visit http://www.cgrcreative.com

Charlotte Advertising Agency CGR Creative Launches Mobile App for Android Phones

2010-04-15T17:48:00.000-04:00

Charlotte Advertising Agency CGR Creative Launches Mobile App for Android Phones

April 15, 2010 Charlotte NC – CGR Creative recently launched an Android based mobile app so their customers can stay on top of the advertising agency’s latest news. CGR Creative’s Android app streams all their social media channels directly to one feed. This incorporates CGR’s award winning blog, their twitter feed, links and updates from their facebook fan page, and even their tumblr mini blog. CGR is offering this free application to Android phone users immediately with an iPhone version to be released in the next few months.

CGR Creative believes Charlotte, North Carolina is a prime location for mobile application development because of the growing tech economy it’s top twenty-three media market rating. CGR Creative is poised to take advantage of the fact that every major US city is within an 800 mile radius of Charlotte, North Carolina.

More and more mobile phone owners are using their phones in novel ways. They are searching the Internet and consuming content at a constantly increasing rate. This adds to the perfect storm of mobile development that CGR Creative predicts will hit the Charlotte Market in the next five years.

About CGR Creative: Charlotte based CGR Creative is a full service advertising agency, marketing firm, design studio, and interactive marketing agency. CGR Creative prides itself on supporting their customers in a way that larger agencies can’t, often times committing all their resources to ensure the success of their client’s projects. CGR Creative’s fundamental belief is that the client’s success is their success. The agency, with an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fully bi-lingual, with a Latino marketing division that offers a variety of marketing channels that are specifically targeted to reach the Hispanic market.

For more info on CGR Creative visit http://www.cgrcreative.com

Charlotte Advertising Agency CGR Creative Featured at Working Charlotte’s Business Prosperity Conference

2010-04-12T12:17:00.000-04:00

Charlotte Advertising Agency CGR Creative was featured at Working Charlotte’s Business Prosperity Conference Saturday

Charlotte, North Carolina - Julio Colmenares, Chief Creative Officer of Advertising Agency CGR Creative, LLC, spoke about New Media at Working Charlotte’s Business Prosperity Conference on Saturday, April 10, 2010. Charlotte Advertising agency CGR Creative has been a supporter of small business in Charlotte since it's founding in 2002. The Working Charlotte Business Prosperity Conference 2010 was a great way for CGR to give new media advice to small and medium sized business owners seeking to boldly unlock the "know-how" and the "how-to" of doing business in Charlotte.

Julio began his presentation by explaining that, "What ‘new media’ means changes rapidly so the question becomes, “how can I keep current without going crazy or bankrupt?” The answer is simple, “Jump In!” Learning to swim requires that you get in the pool. You can research, compare, look to your competitor, etc. but eventually you must get wet."

Julio also provided these 7 pieces of advice for attendees to take away from his presentation:

NEW MEDIA: Sink or Swim!

Enjoy the Water: Don't try to be everything to everyone. No product or service will appeal to everyone. Many business owners, including corporate executives, try to come up with ways to reach every market. Typically, this does not work. It can spell disaster for small businesses, who cannot afford to spread themselves too thin. Therefore, find your market and be everything you can be to that audience.

Swim with a Strong Buddy: New Media is one area where people try to tell the professionals what to do and how to do it. You wouldn’t tell a doctor what treatment to prescribe, just like you wouldn’t tell your lawyer how to defend you. Companies can lose a lot of time and money while trying to act as their own ad agency. Agencies are experts. They charge for their time and experience and have one goal in mind: To get the best results for their clients in order to keep those clients.

Beware of Rip Tides: Many companies offer quick fixes for little investment. These are often a simple "Buy your Rankings" package which can work for a short time and leave you stranded in deep water after the initial investment is gone. Work toward developing a consistent managed strategy that will work for the long term.

Know How Deep the Water is: Make your new media decisions based upon research and a formal marketing plan rather than a predetermined target budget. New media is often less expensive than traditional channels but you still get what you pay for.

Constantly Work on Your Stroke: Monitor your new media performance! You need to find out what works best for you. After you find this out, you’ll want to stay the course. Keep track of how SEO efforts and keyword campaigns not only how they drive traffic to your business but at what rate they actually produce sales. Consider testing each new media channel before deciding on which to explore more fully.

Have a Lifeguard: You should always have a professional that you can rely on for no nonsense feedback and creative ideas for all your new media campaigns. Preferably this is someone with a vantage point with which to measure your efforts and who can point you in the right direction.

Pay Attention to the Other Swimmers: Put your new media dollars in the right places. Your favorite website, social media outlet, blog, or even search engine might not be a favorite of your audience. Know what they read, peruse, and where they get their info, and advertise in the new media channel that reaches your target market.Julio Colmenares, Chief Creative Officer, CGR Creative, LLC - Description: Explore "New Media" (Websites, Search Engines and Social Media) and how to stay current without going crazy or bankrupt. Learn how to leverage technology to build awareness of your company.

About CGR Creative: Charlotte based CGR Creative is a full service advertising agency, marketing firm, design studio, and interactive marketing agency. CGR Creative prides itself on supporting their customers in a way that larger agencies can’t, often times committing all their resources to ensure the success of their client’s projects. CGR Creative’s fundamental belief is that the client’s success is their success. The agency, with an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fully bi-lingual, with a Latino marketing division that offers a variety of marketing channels that are specifically targeted to reach the Hispanic market.

For more info on CGR Creative visit http://www.cgrcreative.com

Charlotte Advertising Agency CGR Creative Helps Promote North Carolina Charity

2010-04-09T08:55:00.000-04:00

Charlotte Advertising Agency CGR Creative Helps Promote North Carolina Charity

Charlotte Advertising Agency CGR Creative recently completed a brand image overhaul for Statesville based Purple Heart Homes. The charity was founded by Dale Beatty and John Gallina, two former Soldiers injured in the line of duty. Charlotte Advertising Agency CGR Creative helped create a new modern brand image for the charity including their logo, supporting graphics, business cards, brochures, and other collateral. CGR Creative is known for their cutting edge graphics and their ability to develop and manage memorable brands. As an Advertising Agency, CGR Creative takes pride in being Charlotte, North Carolina's Agency of choice among new businesses.

Jason Ramsey, CGR Creative's Creative Director said, "Work like CGR Creative's brand management for Purple Heart Homes is what every Charlotte Advertising Agency should be doing more of." He went on to explain, "They [PHH] had a clear idea of what their goals were and they let us develop the brand image that would deliver on those goals."

About Purple Heart Homes: Purple Heart Homes wants to help other service connected disabled veterans achieve the quality of life they deserve. PHH is committed to helping Veterans with a variety of injuries regardless of when they served. Full construction of a new home will generally be reserved for recent medical retirees without an established home, who have a need for new housing after medical retirement. Smaller projects such as improving accessibility within existing homes can be completed for qualified Veterans regardless of when they served.

How you can help: PHH is not a construction company, but instead they are a Public Charity that seeks ways to pool community resources for our candidates. Our ultimate goal is for the communities where our Veterans reside to accept a role of ownership in the projects we undertake. This gives Americans a chance to show their appreciation for local Veterans, thru donations, labor, and by participating in projects that reward the volunteers as well as the recipient.

We are currently focusing our efforts in the North Carolina region. To join us in our mission, or to find out more about how you can help, or to apply for assistance, please visit us at www.phhnc.org

About CGR Creative: CGR Creative is a Charlotte advertising agency, marketing firm, design studio, and interactive marketing company. CGR Creative prides itself on supporting their customers in a way that larger agencies can’t, often times committing all their resources to ensure the success of their client’s projects. CGR Creative’s fundamental belief is that the client’s success is their success. The agency, with an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fully bi-lingual, with a Latino marketing division that offers a variety of marketing channels that are specifically targeted to reach the Hispanic market.

Julio Colmenares to Speak at Charlotte’s Business Prosperity Conference

2010-04-07T13:25:00.000-04:00

April 7, 2010 - Charlotte, North Carolina - Julio Colmenares, Chief Creative Officer of CGR Creative, LLC, will be speaking at Charlotte’s Business Prosperity Conference on Saturday, April 10, 2010. The Charlotte Business Prosperity Conference 2010 is a one-day experience for small and medium sized business owners seeking to boldly unlock the "know-how" and the "how-to" of doing business in Charlotte. The "Business Prosperity" theme is appropriate as Charlotte business owners, entrepreneurial-minded professionals, and their employees will access strategies, skills, resources, and connections to prosperity, productivity, and power. The entire conference will be focused on removing barriers to business by empowering attendees to drive revenue and control expenses.

Breakout Session #3 - NEW MEDIA: SINK OR SWIM

Presenter: Julio Colmenares, Chief Creative Officer, CGR Creative, LLC - Description: Explore "New Media" (Websites, Search Engines and Social Media) and how to stay current without going crazy or bankrupt. Learn how to leverage technology to build awareness of your company.

The Conference will be provided in English, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese!

DATE: Saturday, April 10, 2010
TIME: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
LOCATION: UNC - Charlotte
REGISTRATION FEE: $99
College of Health and Human Services Building
9201 University City Blvd.
Charlotte, NC 28223

About CGR Creative: CGR Creative is a full service marketing, design, advertising, and interactive marketing agency. CGR Creative prides itself on supporting their customers in a way that larger agencies can’t, often times committing all their resources to ensure the success of their client’s projects. CGR Creative’s fundamental belief is that the client’s success is their success. The agency, with an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fully bi-lingual, with a Latino marketing division that offers a variety of marketing channels that are specifically targeted to reach the Hispanic market.

Need a Reason to do Search Engine Marketing?

2010-04-05T08:43:00.000-04:00

Need a Reason to do Search Engine Marketing? We'll Give You 10!

1 Targeting: Search engines allow you to market to people who are already interested enough in your products and services to get online and type in key words related to your product or service. These people are far more likely to seek you out and are much more likely to buy from you than some random individual who hears about your company. Unlike most traditional forms of marketing, they are looking for you!

2 Timing: Search engines allow you to market your product or service to searchers at the time they are interested, even 2 a.m. on Christmas morning, or while they are at work. What other form of marketing allows you to give them what they want, whenever they want it?

3 Visibility: Search engines allow consumers and businesses to find you easily. Even obscure and hard to define products and services are easy to find via search engines.

4 Measurable Results: Everything in Search Engine Marketing can be tracked, including what site a visitor came from, what keyword they typed to find you, how long they spent on your site, which pages they visited, etc…. Everything.

5 Trust & Reputation: Consumers have learned to trust the companies at the top of Google as being the most reputable and trusted sources in their niche.

For 6-10 visit our website here.

CGR Creative is certified as a Historically Underutilized Business (HUB)

2010-03-26T12:00:00.001-04:00

CGR Creative was awarded HUB certification this week meaning they are now qualified as a Historically Underutilized Business. Julio Colmenares, Partner and Chief Creative Officer of CGR, was excited that the HUB certification process was completed. Julio said, "I am glad that we can now offer an extra benefit to our clients, many companies out there are looking to partner with HUB Firms and I am happy we bring that added value to our clients." Julio went on to explain that, "this really doesn't change anything here at CGR. We have always been focused on providing top quality results with phenomenal service, and that remains our mission."

CGR's HUB vendor information can be found here.

According to Bridget Wall-Lennon, Director Office for Historically Underutilized Businesses, in her post titled "HUB OFFICE PREPARES FOR NEW OPPORTUNITIES," North Carolina business owners were understandably optimistic when they heard the state would receive $6.1 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The Office for Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUB) is working to ensure that minority-, women-, disabled- and disadvantage-owned businesses will enjoy an equal opportunity to participate in providing state government with the goods and services it requires.

To help level the playing field, Governor Perdue recently signed Executive Order 13, which tasks the HUB Office with assisting certified HUB firms in identifying and obtaining ARRA contract opportunities. As with all state government contracts, the aspirational goal for goods and services is 10 percent (by dollar amount) of purchasing to be derived from HUB firms.

For more from Ms. Wall-Lennon visit this link.

About CGR Creative
CGR Creative is a full service marketing, design, advertising, and interactive marketing agency. CGR Creative prides itself on supporting their customers in a way that larger agencies can’t, often times committing all their resources to ensure the success of their client’s projects. CGR Creative’s fundamental belief is that the client’s success is their success. The agency, with an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fully bilingual, with a Latino marketing division that offers a variety of marketing channels that are specifically targeted to reach the Hispanic market.

www.facebook.com/cgrcreative - www.twitter.com/cgrcreative - http://www.cgrcreative.blogspot.com/

CGR Partners with LiveWell Homes

2010-03-18T12:53:00.003-04:00

CGR Creative recently partnered with LiveWell Homes on a print campaign centered around a presentation folder and collateral describing their philosophy of high quality features, modern materials, eco friendly products, and amazing upgrades as STANDARD on all their homes. This is the type of company we get excited to work with! CGR was also responsible for the branding video that is the centerpiece of their website.

Other work includes: Collateral, Infographics, Sub Plans, & Multimedia.

Advertising Can Go Wrong

2010-03-12T07:45:00.001-05:00

Bad advertising is nothing new. It has always been there, after all the first newspaper advertisement ever was an attempt to sell property in Oyster Bay, Long Island. This ad for Pet Evaporated Milk is banking on the fact that Tuna Pizza would be a big hit. Hmmm... I don't remember seeing it on the menu at Spago.

Sometimes the ad itself is fine but the context is bad. Like if your magazine ad for Valvoline Motor Oil is next to an article about the War in Iraq, or worse a story about electric cars. The McDonalds billboard below the childhood obesity billboard couldn't be much worse.

Sometimes ads are just ugly. The product or tagline or even the copy can just seem off, wrong, offputting or unsightly. Rarely however is it the models in the ads that are the offending party. However it does happen, and the Pallas Athena ad is a perfect example. Just about everything in this full page magazine ad is awful.

Then there are the ads that try to be bad. Those maverick art directors who want to push the envelope until something pushes back. What they don't realize is that often their client pays the biggest price for running a bad ad. I wonder how many advertisers would run intentionally bad ads for their own agencies or better yet their children's businesses.

Absolut vodka is a product that often pushes the boundaries with their ads. There was the infamous one where Mexico retained most of the Southwestern United States, and there is this one which is just in poor taste. Absolut is a great brand and they can get away with running the occaisonal bad ad, but why? An argument can be made that it attracts attention or that any publicity is good publicity. Unfortunately Tom Cruise and Britney Spears proved that old chestnut 100% false.

The issue here is that advertising can go wrong and your business needs to question your creative BEFORE it gets produced. Sure you trust your agency, as an agency we appreciate that, but parents who trust their kids still ask, "where are you and that kid with the piercings going?" You should ask your agency what their intentions are with your brand as well!

Do you have any examples of advertising gone wrong? If so post links to those and we'll use them in a future post and of course we'll give you credit for the discovery!

Security Guard Exchange Goes Live

2010-03-09T19:45:00.003-05:00

SecurityGuardExchange.com is the only online portal for all aspects of life as a security guard

March 8, 2010 - Charlotte, North Carolina - Jason Ramsey & Julio Colmenares, Partners at CGR Creative, are pleased to announce that their client Security Guard Exchange has launched their new website and services.
Security Guard Exchange provides: information on individual state licensing requirements, a Job Board to find security guard assignments, links to training schools around the US, discounts on gear & equipment, as well as the latest industry news.

“I am pleased that SGE has launched. We put a lot of hard work in their online presence because we believe they have a revolutionary vision.” said Ramsey. “SecurityGuardExchange.com will change the face of the industry. They are now the hub around which all things security guard related will orbit.”

Security guards or those interested in the field can visit the site securityguardexchange.com for discounts on training, notifications of new job listings, and the SGE Job Alert Email. You can also visit their blog to keep current on the industry and to pick the brain of experts in the field.

About CGR CreativeCGR Creative is a full service marketing, design, advertising, and interactive marketing agency. CGR Creative prides itself on supporting their customers in a way that larger agencies can’t, often times committing all their resources to ensure the success of their client’s projects. CGR Creative’s fundamental belief is that the client’s success is their success. The agency, with an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fully bi-lingual, with a Latino marketing division that offers a variety of marketing channels that are specifically targeted to reach the Hispanic market.

www.facebook.com/cgrcreative - www.twitter.com/cgrcreative - http://www.cgrcreative.blogspot.com/

Breakfast Grind

2010-03-07T10:39:00.002-05:00

One of B-towns best - Big Daddy's Breakfast Rocks! Your welcome for the plug. Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend and staying creative.

“Extinct” Species Found in Jason Ramsey’s Coffee Mug

2010-03-06T13:06:00.001-05:00

Charlotte, North Carolina – In a world saturated by images of polar bears adrift lonely icebergs, it seems rare to have a day of celebrating in the environmental community. But yesterday, animal rights activists and earth-huggers everywhere cheered at news that a species once thought to be extinct was found alive and well. The cheers quickly turned to confused grunts when it was revealed that the species was indeed found in Jason Ramsey’s coffee mug.

The species Madiup-ous Frogious, or Dillworth Spotted wild frog, is a tiny purple frog that was thought to have died out in the late 1980s. They once thrived in the dusty slopes of Southend’s trolley line. Overpopulation in the area and special protections made by hunters for the blue winged table grouse, a common predator of the spotted wild frog, decimated the species. Or so we all thought.

Published in the New England Journal of Anthropology last week was a second-hand account of a frog spotting.

As if this revelation was not shocking enough, the nature of the frogs’ reproductive processes is so strange that it has been Wikipedia-ed more times than “Clay Aiken.” The frogs are of the “gastric brooding” variety, meaning that they lay eggs in their own stomachs. They then turn off their gastric juices, birth the eggs, and carry them through the larval and tadpole phase. The bizarre creature then births the young frogs, fully formed, out of their mouths.

Scientists asked to comment on the finding shared shock, dismay, and in one case, an eerie knowing. “It is quite strange,” conceded Dr. Theisel Soundwright, “and yet it makes total sense. I can’t think of anywhere one would be more likely to find a frog vomiting out other frogs than in Jason Ramsey’s coffee mug.”

Since the discovery, rumors have been flying that Columbian drug lords want the frogs in order to smuggle cocaine over airplanes. Rouge “biochemists” supposedly possess the technology to reverse engineer the genetic makeup of the frogs so that their stomachs will support large amounts of cocaine, while hiding it from drug sniffing dogs. These rumors have mostly been ignored by the Jason Ramsey camp.

Mr. Ramsey, the man himself, held a press conference Friday morning to announce that while he is extremely honored to possess the chosen sole ecosystem for this species, he simply cannot allow them to continue to exist due to the threat they pose to International security and American liberties... Plus he already put on another pot of coffee.

Marand "Rebrand"

2010-03-04T16:44:00.001-05:00

One of CGR's long-term CLIENTS & FRIENDS Marand Builders came to us for a corporate identity overhaul. CGR’s task is to maintain the original essence of their established brand while giving it an updated aesthetic with a unique cosmetic twist.

Some of the work includes: Website Design and Program Development; Brand; RFP Presentations; Signage, Search Engine Optimization (SEO); Collateral.

Lunchtime Grind

2010-03-04T13:27:00.000-05:00

Tay finally mastered the chopsticks

IMG00044-20100303-1443.jpg

2010-03-03T14:47:00.001-05:00

I was just about poisoned just now - be careful with the pete...

More Newspaper Clippings

2010-02-28T20:10:00.000-05:00

Variable Data Portal: Not What It Sounds Like

2010-02-23T19:10:00.002-05:00

Tay Fewell of local advertising agency CGR Creative, was excited to learn that his firm was working on a project involving variable data portals. That was, until he learned that the portals had absolutely nothing to do with inter-dimensional travel.

“There was like half a second where I thought that my “boss”* Jason, who is really lame and wouldn’t even buy a Star Trek water cooler when I asked him to, had developed these things that I hadn’t even heard of (which is “unheard of”) that were going to open holes in the space-time continuum right in the office,” said Fewell, adding that he recalled right away how lame Jason is and wasn’t fooled for any longer than 1/3 of a second.

Fewell went on to say that despite his initial disappointments when he “simply forgot in [his] excitement that a Variable Data Portal is really a way for clients to create completely custom direct mail pieces for their customers using a database, it really is pretty cool anyway. At this point, his boss Jason popped his head in to the office and told Fewell to “shut up if [he didn’t] want to sound like an moron in the newspaper.” Fewell set his phaser to stun.

*Here Fewell used “air-quotes”

Funny Newspaper Clippings

2010-02-21T13:47:00.000-05:00

CGR ran across these funny newspaper clippings over the weekend.

Any takers? We are betting the cat gets picked up first!

Pony? Looks like a small horse? Really?

Lady jackhammers will be the least of your kids problems.

VID 00022-20100217-0847

2010-02-17T08:50:00.001-05:00

Give a Puck event tonight!

2010-02-16T10:33:00.002-05:00

Recently, CGR has partnered with For Your Cure, a Charlotte based cancer charity, and our first event is taking place tonight at the Gin Mill.

Here are the details:

The Charlotte Checkers, 1065 The End, CGR Creative and The Gin Mill are sponsoring Give A Puck Night with For Your Cure! Come out to The Gin Mill and get served by the guest bartenders of the night, The Charlotte Checkers! $1.00 of each beer sold will go directly to For Your Cure! This event will be limited to those who are 21 and older.

FOR YOUR CURE is a charity that specializes in providing people suffering from cancer an outlet to occupy their mind and body through creative expression.

We are also hosting a drawing for a $25 bar tab tonight so you may even be drinking on us!

Date:	Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Time:	7:00pm - 9:00pm
Location:	The Gin Mill
Address:	1411 South Tryon Street
	Charlotte, NC

CGR Creative Group Expands Team

2010-02-14T19:32:00.000-05:00

New Media Specialist will assist with social media, new technology strategy, client relations, PR, and event planning.

February 14, 2010 - Charlotte, North Carolina - Jason Ramsey,
Partner/Creative Specialist of CGR Creative, is pleased to announce that Joe Burroughs has joined the firm as a New Media Specialist.

Mr. Burroughs brings with him over 20 years experience in print and web design, working both in small shops and full scale media companies. As the Program Director for the Graphic Design Department at Kings College, staying ahead of the curve is an everyday commitment. He holds a B.S. in Communications/Advertising from Appalachian State University and an MS in Print Media from the Rochester Institute of Technology. A native of Southern Pines, NC, Joe Burroughs now resides in Charlotte where he is enjoying a successful career.

“I am ecstatic that Joe has joined our team,” said Ramsey. “He has been a constant resource for me over the years and I am so pleased that he will be able to lend his expertise to our clients. Joe has been in the forefront of new media in Charlotte and I look forward to creating new and exciting campaigns with him.”

About CGR Creative
CGR Creative is a full service marketing, design, advertising, and interactive marketing agency. CGR Creative prides itself on supporting their customers in a way that larger agencies can’t, often times committing all their resources to ensure the success of their client’s projects. CGR Creative’s fundamental belief is that the client’s success is their success. The agency, with an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fully bi-lingual, with a Latino marketing division that offers a variety of marketing channels that are specifically targeted to reach the Hispanic market.

www.facebook.com/cgrcreative
www.twitter.com/cgrcreative

This Is How You Keep Your Office In ORDER!

2010-02-03T14:56:00.003-05:00

An interesting thing happened the other day in the office kitchen. I was actually caught not recycling. :( Now, before you freak out and think that Tay doesn't recycle...I have a good excuse! (at least a good one for that day... ok, maybe not a GOOD excuse) It was just one of those days I had a lot of stuff on my mind and saving the environment was not one of those thoughts, it had simply slipped my mind. I'm sorry Mother Nature! FORGIVE ME! I'll do better! Anyhow, I put a soda can in the trash instead of the big blue recycling bin that I had to pass on the way to the trash can. So, another person in the office gave me a good scolding. After that I thought to myself, maaaaan, what if Terry "The Office Linebacker" Tate had caught me not recycling. He would've messed me up pretty badly. To get a better understanding of what I'm saying watch the video below! WARNING...watching it, just might make you a better employee... "The pain train is comin'" -tay

Back At Work!

2010-01-28T18:46:00.002-05:00

My apologies! I've been sick. Came down with a very bad cold. You already know that "bug" or whatever you wanna call it, is going around. Honestly, I should've known I was going to get sick when the entire office was sick and I was the LAST healthy human in the office. It was only a matter of time... :( Anyhow, me being sick caused me to miss a few days of work. (Notice that I haven't created any blog entries since my first!) While I was at home getting rest and taking medicine, I had a chance to get caught up on my Kobe and Lebron puppet commercials. I posted my favorite one below. I DARE you to tell me this isn't funny!...seriously...I dare you! -tay

PRANK GONE WRONG

2010-01-27T11:17:00.002-05:00

The prank was set up perfectly. A high school girls' basketball coach in Kansas was told he'd win tickets to the Final Four if he hit a half-court shot while blindfolded. The crowd was instructed to scream wildly when his attempt inevitably failed (because, really, that shot is nearly impossible) so the coach would think the shot went in. For an instant ,he'd think he was Final-Four-bound and then the joke would be revealed. There was just one problem, though: He made it.

APPLE'S POSSIBLE NEW PRODUCTS

2010-01-27T10:58:00.001-05:00

The economy may be sputtering, Bin Laden may be threatening, Barack Obama may be speaking to Congress, but in the world of tech all anybody seems to care about is the Steve Jobs is packing a new gadget.

No one outside of Cupertino knows for sure what to expect, but that hasn't stopped anybosy from making educated guesses. Assuming Jobs plans to save the best for last, here's what CNN.com thinks may be coming:

iLife 2010. Apple usually updates its suite of applications for organizing, editing, and publishing photos, movies and music in January, so it would not be surprising, or particularly newsworthy, if they did it again this year.

iPhone 4. Apple has released a new iPhone every summer since 2007. With Google's (GOOG) and Palm (PALM) racing to catch up, you can bet Apple has some surprises up its sleeve. The surprise most people want to hear is that Apple has terminated its exclusive deal with AT&T (T) and will now be making iPhones for Verizon (VZ), T-Mobile (DT) and Sprint (S). It's a long shot, but it could happen Wednesday.

New MacBooks. It's been 232 days since Apple updated the MacBook Pro — a machine it refreshes on average every 200 days. The MacBook Air is also approaching the end of its product cycle. You might see these on Wednesday too.

CHECK THIS OUT!

2010-01-22T16:52:00.004-05:00

Jason just informed me that one of my NEW responsibilities will be blogging for the company everyday. This is something that I really don't want to do...but obviously Jason can sense that I stay very informed when it comes to the latest styles, trends, and what's hot when it comes to creativity! So...I guess its no point to keep all this super creative stuff to myself. As my first official blog post EVER...I give to you a video that MADE MY HEART SKIP A BEAT! You can thank me later! -Tay

Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs Inc. from Chris Cairns on Vimeo.

GREEN TEAM

2010-01-22T12:34:00.006-05:00

Here at CGR one of our 2010 resolutions is to produce products with the environment in mind. We are able to print on recycled or partially recycled paper and/or use soy based inks. We hope you can join us in this resolution to BE GREEN in 2k10!

TEXT "HAITI" to 90999

2010-01-17T19:00:00.000-05:00

This mobile fundraising initiative is a partnership between the American Red Cross, Mobile Accord and the mGive Foundation that is supported by the U.S. State Department.

Customers of participating wireless carriers can text message "HAITI" to 90999 and make a $10 donation to support the American Red Cross Haiti relief efforts. Donations will appear on customers' monthly bills or be debited from a prepaid account balance. Message and data rates may apply. To opt-out, send "STOP" to 90999. To see the terms applicable to donations, please visit www.mgive.com/A. Receipts for donations are available at www.mgive.org/receipt.

VIDEO

2010-01-14T18:15:00.002-05:00

Onitsuka Tiger

2010-01-10T10:57:00.000-05:00

Onitsuka Tiger

It's like having a car & walking to work...

2010-01-10T00:14:00.004-05:00

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)

CGR Creative is a world-class Search Engine Marketing firm with specialties in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay-Per-Click Management (PPC), Conversion Optimization, Comparison Shopping Management, and Social Media Marketing (SMM). We have almost a decade of Search Engine Marketing experience and are a world leader in online marketing. Our firm has an exceptional team of search engine optimizers, web masters, and online marketers that provide innovative strategies, complex web design, and excellent customer support.

It’s our top priority to create a strategy that’s highly effective for your organization.

OUR FIRM WILL NOT REST UNTIL YOU SEE RESULTS.

This is how we do it...

2010-01-10T00:02:00.009-05:00

Oh.. Almost Forgot - Got a brand new pair of Asics ( life is good - its gooood! )