Posts Tagged ‘marketing’

Every now and then, we all need a new fresh look. Take for instance, Kevin Moore — a web designer at Coles Marketing. After 15 years, Kevin cut his hair and donated over 12 inches of hair  to “Locks of Love.” Brands need a fresh look, too. At Coles, we have a creative team of branding specialists. It’s a hard first step, but don’t be afraid to update your brand. Perhaps wrap your re-branding around a charity event, and just like Kevin, you’ll come out feeling refreshed with a smile on your face.

Photos courtesy of Coles Marketing and Kevin Moore

By Tim Coulon, Vice President Creative, Coles Marketing Communications

When it comes to shooting photos for business purposes, pictures often really are worth a thousand words. But based on the quality of photographs encountered in newsletters, brochures and even advertisements, many companies are speaking to their customers in tongues.

Professional photographers produce the finest pictures, but there isn’t always the time and budget to hire one. Point-and-shoot cameras can often fill the void for simple day-to-day business purposes, and more people are carrying smartphones that can take high-resolution photos.

The problem is the business people wielding these cameras make many common mistakes, resulting in pictures that are out of focus, badly composed or over-exposed by flash. Fortunately, most of these issues can be corrected with the following advice, plus a little bit of practice!

• Don’t be afraid of retakes. The great thing about digital cameras is there’s no film to waste. The first picture you take probably isn’t the best one. Take four or five photos, and weed through them on your computer for the best one.
• Always shoot on your camera’s highest resolution setting. You can decide later to shrink a photo down, but you can’t improve a low-res picture once it’s taken.
• Don’t take the name “point-and-shoot” too literally! Many people assume wherever they happen to be standing is the best place to take a picture. Walk around your subject, looking for the best angle and lighting.
• Avoid leaving too much space around what you’re shooting. Move in or zoom in until you’re framed fairly tightly around your subject.
• Watch out for distracting objects or people in the background. You don’t want to take a portrait of your CEO with an “Exit” sign right over his/her head!
• Excess motion can result in blurry or bad photos. Anchor your body when you’re ready to shoot. Press the shutter button smoothly — don’t stab or jerk the camera. It might even be a good idea to hold your breath.
• Avoid shooting a person straight on, looking directly into the camera. They will look stiff and uncomfortable. Have them turn their body at a slight angle and swivel their head toward the camera for a more natural, candid look.
• You can even have your portrait subject looking away from the camera. If you do this, frame them slightly off-center and include more of the area in the direction they’re looking. This “look space” effect results in great environmental portraits.
• Don’t stand someone up against a wall to take their picture. It will resemble a police mug shot and create a shadow halo around their head.
• Use your point-and-shoot’s autofocus function wisely. Most digital cameras allow you to press the shutter button halfway to set the focus. You can then move the camera around to change or improve the composition. Aim first at what you want to be in focus, press the button halfway to lock it in, and move around until you like what you see. Then press the shutter the rest of the way to take the shot.
• Focusing with a smartphone camera is a little different. On most smartphones, you can tap the screen on the object you want to focus on. Then press the shutter button to take the picture. Otherwise it will just focus on whatever is in the center of your screen.
• Smartphone cameras have a wider aspect ratio than regular cameras, resulting in a long, skinny image. Avoid holding the phone upright while taking a picture, unless you’re photographing something tall like a building or a basketball player.
• Your camera’s flash function is best when used about five or six feet away from your subject. If you’re too close, they’ll be blasted with light and washed out. If they’re more than 10 feet away, the flash won’t reach them. Try to use natural light whenever possible.
• If you’re photographing outdoors, bright sunny days aren’t the best choice. Shoot on an overcast day or in the shade for the best effects.

Looking for experts behind the lens? Check out what photography services Coles has to offer!

We’re back from the holidays and, as a PR/marketing professional, diving head first back into one of the most stressful jobs of 2012, according to CareerCast. You might already be

From Psychology Today

planning some coveted vacation time. Not only is it a time to relax and refresh, but according to recent research, it gets your creativity juices flowing.

A 2011 IBM global survey of CEOs found that creativity was regarded as the “most crucial factor for future success” in a “highly volatile, increasingly complex business environment.”

In his article, Seth Schulman offers some simple suggestions for structuring your next vacation to maximize your own creative development:

• Use time away to catch up on sleep. Most of us don’t get enough of it, and it’s essential for performing creative tasks well.
• Create psychological distance from work. It’s tempting to keep our smartphones on, even if we travel to another country. Unfortunately, that might damage our ability to replenish our creative stores. Several studies have shown that just thinking about things distant from the here and now can enhance creativity.
• Vacation with people you love. When participants in one study were “primed with thoughts of love,” they grew more creative. On the other hand, they became less creative “when primed with carnal desire.” (I’ll leave it to you to figure out what to do with that…)
• Read something crazy. Those of us who like to read might be tempted to choose the latest business book or a title that otherwise bears directly on our work. Think again: Research has found that reading absurd stories by Kafka increased the ability to recognize hidden patterns. Apparently, absurdity forces our minds to work harder to make meaning out of what we encounter, thus enhancing our creative skills.
• Play games — especially video games. Believe it or not, a recent study has found that playing video games makes kids more creative.
• Spend time with your kids. If you spend time interacting with children, you might find yourself more inclined to think like them. And one study has found that just thinking about life from the point of view of our 7-year-old selves improves our creative performance.

And when your vacation is over, plan a mindful re-entry into work. Come up with a plan to deal with the onslaught of post-vacation emails and other work, so that the effect of the stress doesn’t sap up all the creative energies you’ve had so much fun unleashing during your time off.

Yet again, CareerCast has listed PR as one of “The 10 Most Stressful Jobs of 2012.” Are you surprised? Ahead of PR were enlisted soldier, firefighter, airline pilot, military general and

Courtesy: CareerCast

police officer — and rightly so. So why are public relations and marketing professionals so stressed out? This article from PRNewser boiled it down to the top five reasons:

1. Clients. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them. From “unrealistic expectations” to limited budgets, respondents talked about how difficult some clients can be to work with. Based on our unscientific observation, this was the number one reason for the industry’s tension.

2. Constant change. Media changes never stop. And technology always has something new to offer. But there’s more to it than that.

“’Doing’ PR is stressful because: You’re working toward a creative vision that changes as it develops,” @Vivacions told us on Twitter. On top of that, there’s a ton of multitasking to be done.

“PR is so stressful because you often have to have a hundred different balls in the air at one time, and you have to be able to make that look effortless to your clients. Demands and expectations are high, budgets are often low, and dealing with the media can be challenging and draining!” wrote Erin Nevicosi in our comments section.

3. Because that’s the way relationships are. @AmyPR tweets, “…it’s based on relationships with people, and everyone is so different & [you] have to manage emotions.”

Commenter Heidi Groshelle says it’s also the number of relationships. “We are managing multiple relationships: Media, Analysts, Clients, Our Team, Advisors.”

4. PR personalities. “Cuz we touch everything. And we’re Type A control freaks,” @JennPet told us, an attribute that we’ve actually heard before.

“The type of personality required to make a great PR pro wants to please everyone from the client>media>customer,” said @MeganePR.

5. Lack of research. Frank Walton makes a case in the comments for the need for more data about outcomes.

“PR people know the principles of the practice and have past experience to draw on and (often) good intuitions. But we have just about no evidence, no data to predict the outcome of a PR tactic or strategy,” he writes.

Other stressful careers that made the top 10? Event coordinator, corporate executive, photojournalist and … taxi driver. And check out what stress factors were measured to create the top 10 list.

Communications is part of our name, and it’s part of what we do.
Over the years I’ve worked at Coles Marketing Communications, our team has designed several great looking e-Communications for our clients. We develop cross-platform designs for use in the popular email marketing sites such as Constant Contact, Exact Target, MailChimp and more.

The important factor is that these designs arrive in the recipient’s mailbox looking the way they are meant to be seen. With mail client software changing constantly, it’s a tough task to stay on top of, but we do what it takes to make sure the job is done correctly.

Here are just a few of our favorites.

Here at Coles Marketing Communications, our clients are all great! We consider ourselves partners in their business and want to be involved in every aspect to help them achieve their goals.

After meeting with a couple potential clients this week, an artcile posted on the Council of Public Relations Firms’ blog on how to be a great client seemed appropriate. Ron Culp, the author, includes the following five tips from Jon Harris, SVP of Global Communications at Sara Lee:  

1. Direction is key. The best clients are the ones who are able to effectively communicate their goals and objectives.

2. Don’t wait until it is too late. The sooner you bring in your partners into the process, the better they can shine.

3. Be realistic about measurement and timing. Every strong relationship is built on candor and honesty.  Make sure that you provide your partner with enough information about expectations and measurement.  And be sure to listen to their counsel.

4. Listen to the advice given. Wayne Callaway, former CEO of PepsiCo had a great line that I have used often in my career.  “God gave you two ears and one mouth and they should be used in that proportion.”

5. Know your strengths and opportunities of improvement. Make sure to listen to the advice given.

Click here to read the entire article.

I love technology. I especially love Apple technology. And the introduction of HDR (high dynamic range) to the iPhone’s camera app is incredible.

Wikipedia defines HDR as: a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminance between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than current standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods. This wide dynamic range allows HDR images to more accurately represent the range of intensity levels found in real scenes, ranging from direct sunlight to faint starlight.

My definition? With the HDR option turned on, iPhone takes three simultaneous photos once the shutter button is touched: 1) an underexposed photo, 2) and overexposed photo, and 3) a “regular” photo. By “regular” I mean a photo that would normally be taken if the HDR option was NOT turned on.

The result of HDR can often be dramatic in contrast to regular pics taken on the iPhone. There is a limit to understand when TO use it and when NOT TO use it. It really only works well in still photography. Because it takes multiple shots, there is an ever so slight delay between the three shots it captures. So if there was much movement within the subject, a weird blur will show up. After taking a handful of photographs, depending on the subject, a user will understand when to and when not to use the HDR option.

In the settings area of the iPhone, there is a “Keep Normal Photo” setting that will allow the iPhone to keep the normally-exposed photo in addition to the HDR version. This way, upon photo review, the user can determine which one is better and delete the worse of the two.

Use the iPhone camera! It is really quite awesome. The iPhone 4 introduced a 5.0 megapixel camera (2592×1936 pixels), also located on the back, which is equipped with a backside illuminated sensor capable of capturing pictures in low-light conditions, as well as an LED flash capable of staying lit for video recording at 720p resolution, considered high-definition.

Here is a shot I took in our parking lot that shows a very effective and quite incredible HDR execution. I tapped/focused on the island of mulch in the lower foreground of the frame. With the HDR function turned off the building in the background would never have been seen.

Having a photo shoot can be a great way to meet a client’s staff.  Today, we conducted a photo shoot with one of our clients, Eastgate Chrysler Jeep Dodge RAM.  Over the course the morning, we shot roughly 50 employees.  The photo shoot gave us an opportunity to meet every employee, find out what they do at Eastgate and see their smiling faces.  From front office staff to parts advisers and sales managers, Eastgate truly has a great team.  Find out for yourself , stop by the dealership at 500 N. Shadeland in Indianapolis or visit them online at www.eastgateauto.com.  All of the staff photos will be posted on their web site shortly.

Meanwhile, take a look at the photos below, some of  the real stars of the “I Got a Guy” ad campaign.  Click on the thumbnail to see larger photos.

We rolled out a new campaign for our clients, Eastgate and Westgate Chrysler Jeep Dodge RAM.  Visit the site to find out more about the dealerships, view the inventory, and take advantage of the specials.  Oh, and make sure you click on the video to view the ad.

Since its inception, Facebook has been subject to a host of changes — different layouts, formats, policies and so on. One of the more recent and widely-noticed changes has been the phasing out of the Facebook Fan Page in favor of the “Like” button. But are you giving the “Like” a thumbs up?

The change was part of a broader plan to spread the “Like” button across the web and lower the barrier for users to become connected with brands and organizations. According to Facebook, users click “Like” almost twice as much as they click “Become a Fan” — so,  if Facebook changes “Become a Fan” to “Like,” more users will click on it. Right?

However, in a poll by Mashable, 29.6% preferred the “Like” button — while 57.3% preferred to “Become a Fan.” The rest were indifferent. (Come on people — Choose a side!) Then, there are the articles that talk about how “fan” is a whole other level of “like,” dictating the Wikipedia definition of the word “fan.” And believe it or not, there is actually a Facebook page titled “‘Like’ vs. ‘Become a fan,’” and you can choose to “Like” it or not. (By the way, there’s only 20 people who do!)

Jay Krall’s article on the Cision blog notes that “when you ‘like’ an article, it gets published to the news feeds of your friends on Facebook. This little feature has the potential to drive new traffic to your content. If you publish press releases or blog posts online, then you should consider using it.”

Is the “Like” button more lightweight, like Facebook says? Do you “Like” the “Like” button? Well, it really doesn’t matter if you actually “Like” it — so far, there is no “Dislike” button.