The LeMoyne Center for the Visual Arts, a Tallahassee-based nonprofit art gallery and education center, asked Taproot Creative to help promote its 47th Annual Holiday Show. With memberships and private donations dwindling, LeMoyne sought to use this opportunity to demonstrate its cultural and economic value to the community and promote art as a legitimate business.

Solution

After evaluating the Holiday Show marketing strategies implemented in years past, Taproot Creative developed an integrated communications plan incorporating media relations, social media, grassroots outreach, e-mail marketing, and cost-effective print, radio and online advertising tactics aimed at increasing Holiday Show revenue and attendees. The firm began by designing a recognizable symbol to represent the Holiday Show, and then applied that symbol and pertinent information to brochures, posters, flyers, billboards, direct mailers, signage, advertisements and a one-page website that served as a central source of information. The effort also included a media blitz that resulted in interviews with LeMoyne representatives on all major local television and radio stations. In all, Taproot Creative donated more than $30,000 in branding, design, digital and public relations services, while LeMoyne invested just over $9,000 in printing, mailing and ad buys.

Results

The Holiday Show generated more than $130,000 in net revenue from ticket sales, retail sales and related private donations. This represents a 23% increase from the previous year’s revenues. In addition, the art gallery saw a 7% increase in the number of attendees compared to the previous year, and an 8% increase in membership. The president of LeMoyne’s Board of Directors expressed her genuine appreciation for the marketing effort and considered the event an undeniable success. “The amazingly talented and creative professionals at Taproot Creative knew exactly what this event needed,” she said. “From devising the overall strategy to implementing every piece of the campaign, they delivered in a big way. I can say without hesitation that had we not heeded the firm’s advice to invest in this marketing effort, we would have kicked off the New Year scrambling to keep our doors open.”

The Florida Chamber of Commerce hired Taproot Creative to conduct a usability study and technical audit of its website and use the research findings to effectively redesign the site. Through this process, we discovered that website visitors were overwhelmingly dissatisfied with their experience, primarily due to their inability to find relevant information quickly and easily. Furthermore, the lack of a consistent layout, poor aesthetics, technical flaws, circular navigation and unclear content jeopardized the Chamber’s brand in the minds of key stakeholders.

Solution

Taproot Creative designed a new website complete with a robust content management system that effectively addressed the Chamber’s challenges. The new site features a revised information architecture, which makes it far more intuitive for users. From a design perspective, the new aesthetic offers a more modern and sophisticated appeal that appropriately embodies the Chamber’s brand. The site also utilizes responsive design, which ensures a seamless browsing experience for users accessing the site via portable devices, such as tablets and smartphones.

The new website features full integration of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, which helps create cross-traffic to and from those platforms. This type of integration also allows the Chamber to manage its photos and videos on its social networks, rather than the website itself. The website then communicates with the Chamber’s social platforms to display select images and videos in various digital media galleries throughout the site. This means the Chamber only needs to manage its photos and videos in one location, as opposed to having to upload its digital assets to both its social networks and the website.

Thanks to the user-friendly content management solution provided, designated Chamber professionals maintain complete control over the site. Even with no knowledge of HTML or other complex development languages, these individuals have the power to manipulate the content and imagery within their site at any given time without needing to rely on us for assistance.

Results

A follow-up survey indicated notable increases in user satisfaction. Specifically, website visitors were thoroughly pleased with their new ability to find information quickly and easily, and commended the site as an effective tool for taking action on pro-business issues. Users also rated the aesthetics of the site significantly higher than the previous site. The project’s success was demonstrated in website traffic trends as well. Compared to peak times during the previous year, the Chamber increased the average number of visits per day by 40%. The average visit time also increased by nearly one minute, and the bounce rate decreased by more than 10%. These statistics indicate that more people are visiting the site and staying longer than ever before, generating positive exposure for the Chamber’s brand.

The Florida State University College of Social Work hired Taproot Creative to asses its existing brand and develop and implement an integrated marketing campaign to raise its profile among target audiences and attract top-notch students to its on-campus, online and distance learning programs.

Solution

We began by facilitating group discovery sessions with faculty and staff to evaluate the college’s brand from an internal perspective. We then facilitated student focus groups and conducted a comparative analysis of aspirational universities to evaluate the college’s position in the external marketplace. We rounded out the research and discovery phase with a thorough audit of all existing marketing materials and conducted a usability analysis of the college’s website. After presenting our findings and recommendations to the leadership team, we drafted a brand positioning statement and developed a comprehensive, results-driven integrated marketing plan that incorporated public relations, advertising and digital media components, among others. As part of this plan, we developed a new tagline for the college and coupled that with the design of new collateral that reflected a cleaner and more refined aesthetic. We also developed a new website for the college, since research revealed that the previous website did not meet the needs of external stakeholders and therefore required a complete overhaul in design and functionality.

Results

As a result of our branding and integrated marketing efforts, the college has received numerous accolades from current and prospective students, faculty, alumni, and even from competing programs across the country. More importantly, the college has witnessed a steady increase in applications to its various programs, especially its MSW program, which was a key focal point of our promotional efforts. In fact, nearly 40 percent of all traffic to the new website navigates to pages related to the MSW program. As a further indication of campaign success, website tracking data indicates a drastic increase in visitors to the site, all of whom are staying longer than ever before – nearly five minutes per visit.

Fans don their favorite team’s colors week after week and relish in the inevitable emotional roller coaster ride that characterizes a season. Fanatics, on the other hand, experience emotional extremes that distort their worldview and compel them to think and act in ways that often defy social norms.

Fans innocuously paint their faces and wear foam fingers. Fanatics subversively throw punches and set cars on fire.

Fans opine around the water cooler. Fanatics call in sick after their team misses a game-tying field goal that could have ultimately landed them in the Super Bowl (sorry Ravens die-hards).

Fans would agree that college football lost a great coach this past weekend. Fanatics would claim the sport lost a great man.

Again, there’s a difference.

Former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno died on Sunday. As word of his death (for real this time) spread, the news feeds of popular social networks were littered with heartfelt reflections on the life of the winningest coach in major college football history.

“He inspired so many,” wrote one Facebook user. “He made the world a better place,” posted another. And countless others chimed in with, “He was a great man.”

But was he?

Paterno’s 61-year career at Penn State ended abruptly in November 2011 amid allegations that he didn’t do enough to stop a sexual abuse scandal surrounding a former assistant coach, who now faces more than 50 counts of sexually abusing young boys. Paterno’s inaction stands in stark contrast to the high moral standards he preached to his players, and for which he was most widely revered.

Reminds me of the way many people continued to lionize Tiger Woods even after they learned of his multiple extramarital affairs, which, by his own admission, violated the very values that supposedly governed his life.

I understand that people make mistakes. However, it’s one thing to repeatedly cheat on your spouse. It’s quite another to turn a blind eye to the continued sexual abuse of young children. And that’s exactly what Paterno did. Obviously, even borderline fanatics will allow the allure of a legend to cloud the reality of a situation.

A generous philanthropist? No doubt. A role model in many ways? Perhaps. But a great man? More like a great man who made a grave mistake that no one should be a fan of.

Stacey Getz , APR is our director of strategic communications. Read her bio here.

What did that feel like? I don’t mean your emotional response, if you had one, to the content or the design. I mean what did the physical response feel like when your finger interacted with the screen? “Smooth” is probably a fair word to use. Maybe “greasy” if you haven’t wiped the glass lately. Maybe it was “slick” or “cold.” What it probably wasn’t, was “textured,” “interesting,” “compelling” or “different.” It probably wasn’t anything other than a universal experience that is the same to everyone, every time.

And that’s okay. A screen can only be a screen. It’s meant to be homogeneous and only do one thing while doing that one thing well. That slick little aluminosilicate screen is an entry point. It’s a conduit. It works just as it should. The same is true for large ISP monitors and relatively small laptop screens (though probably without the touching part). They’re all, within their own type, uniformly perfect in accomplishing their tasks. But they are, from a purely tangible standpoint, all the same. That’s the way they’re made. That’s why they work as well as they do.

Much like an audiophile mourns vinyl, it pains me when we shuffle ever farther away from paper. It’s true that the convenience of having everything with you at all times trumps the benefits of paper in most instances. I wouldn’t argue that. I’m addicted to my iPhone in a legitimately unhealthy way, and I enjoy website design just as much as I do laying out a complex grid for a multi-page printed publication. The screen of my computer monitor is my canvas for just about everything I do once I’ve moved on from my sketch pad, so I’m not knocking it.

But there’s just something about paper.

Paper is analog. It’s imperfection is what makes it perfect. The choice in paper can mean the difference between your audience keeping a brochure or tossing it in the trash before they’ve even bothered to read the lead-in. It can create, diminish, improve or reinforce the perception of a product, a business or an entire movement by touch alone. There is a visceral experience between the audience and the object that is, at the very least, different, than any interaction with a screen. As a medium, screens are always just screens. Paper, on the other hand, can create a connection. It can set the tone for the beginnings of a story and guide you on to the first building blocks of the design and the content. Paper has a soul in a way that a screen does not and cannot.

Fortunately, despite the continuous surge to an all-digital, all-the-time way of life that makes paper less necessary, there will always be a place for it. If anything, the evolution from ink to screen is a good thing for the craft. It makes printed design that much more valuable. Just as letterpress is so uncommon that it’s striking when you see it and touch it, print, in general, will likely be relegated to the peculiar in the best possible way. The lack of its commonality will transform it into something impressive and desirable if only because it stands out from the pack and looks different than everything else.

With that said, it’s eventual rarity won’t change the fact that not all paper is equal. Paper should work in harmony with design, not against it. The type of paper you select can be the difference between making a good design better, or devaluing a great design into something that is predictably passable. Things like subject matter, the call to action and, more than anything, the brand, are all deciding factors in what paper is right for the job. A thin sheet of cheap, glossy paper just doesn’t feel right if you’re trying to convince someone that a high-end, expensive neighborhood is oozing with sophistication and wealth. Heavy, expensive card stock won’t send the right message to your audience if you’re asking for monetary donations to keep the doors of your struggling non-profit organization open. And linen… linen is never a good idea, really, for much of anything.

The type of paper you choose for a project can make a design sing or fall to the ground in a clumsy, unfortunate mess. It’s as important as any part of the design or the message, and it should never be an afterthought. It’s not something to be thrown into the mix at the last second, or reduced in quality to marginally lower the budget. Paper is a design choice, along with typography, color, form, layout, illustration, photography… all of it. It matters.

Next time you grab a business card or sort through a handful of direct mailers, pay attention to the paper. Go by feel alone and see what stands out and what falls to the bottom of the barrel. See what works with the design and what works against it. Because here’s the thing: your target audience is already doing that, whether they realize it or not. So make it count and choose a paper that isn’t as forgettable and ordinary as the screen on your phone.

On its face, fear is neither good nor bad. It’s simply part of our biological makeup. It can be beneficial in that fear warns us of potential danger and is a key component of our self-preservation. Fear also serves as a reminder of the repercussions of our actions, causing us (ideally) to think before we act. However, if allowed to run wild, fear can also sabotage our long-success and stifle us. It can rob us of one of the most important experiences we stand to gain in life: failure.

I came across a great quote today that reminded me of this:

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.” - Confucius

Managing fear of failure is crucial to running a successful business. On the one hand, acknowledging the ever-present potential of failure keeps you on your toes — aware, sharp and agile. It motivates you to plan and strategize. However, when the time comes, you must put “fear of failure” to death and commit yourself fully to your cause.

There’s a story I’ve shared with my team at Taproot Creative about jumping a bicycle ramp as a 9-year-old boy. It was a large ramp — too big for my age, in hind-sight — and narrow. I thought I had it all figured out. I was going to jump the ramp slowly and cautiously the first time, just make sure I could do it. This event was one of my earliest lessons in physics. I didn’t build enough speed… The front wheel came off the ramp and went straight down, the back wheel went straight up, and I sailed straight over the handlebars, ending up with a mouthful of gravel and dirt. The lesson: When fear of failure causes you to only partially commit, failure is guaranteed.

We forget that failure is just part of life. It’s how we learn. Don’t get me wrong, I hate failing and I hate losing. My staff can attest to this. I am fiercely competitive. But, earlier in my career as a designer, and now as president of an agency, I have to admit that most of my successes are due, at least in part, to previous failures.

So, as we enter a new year and folks are making resolutions, most of which will be dropped before spring, consider this: Commit yourself fully to whatever you have in front of you. Recognize that the potential for failure is a requirement if there’s to be an opportunity for success. Kick ass. Take names. And if you fall, rise.

 “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” - Theodore Roosevelt

They would taunt me with their overstuffed pages filled with impressive, mostly high-quality work that would hint at the promise of inspiring me to do great things; to reach a precipice of creative brilliance and achieve final, absolute perfection.

And then I would open the first page. And then I would get irritated. Then annoyed. Then, sometimes, angry.

I let envy get the best of me. I repetitively mumbled “Why didn’t I think of that?” as though it were a mantra while flipping through page after page of remarkable work. Any and all work of my own that I was pleased with just moments ago was suddenly discarded as less than. Secondary. Coach class. Expected. Boring. But this other stuff? This stuff in the magazine? That was good. I should be that good. I should be better.

The same thing happened when listening to other creatives give brilliant presentations or when a killer TV commercial surprised me by actually being so obnoxiously good that I’d grit my teeth and leave the room in response. It was the stuff that I didn’t think of but felt like I should have that gave me the most grief. I confused that reaction for passion for years.

Not all that long ago while watching one of those aforementioned brilliant presentations, I realized that I’d rather be inspired than envious. As great idea after great idea was shown on the overhead, I realized that that’s the stuff that made me want to be a creative in the first place. That’s the stuff that sticks with you and keeps you up at night.

Inspiration should get you excited about what’s next, not what isn’t. It should add a shot of raw caffeine to your tank and make you want to be even better, while still being appreciative of your skills (assuming you’re any good). It should be a jet pack with multi-colored streamers on it that pushes you to the next level, not a boulder tied around your ankle (also with streamers).

I’ve already tried the alternative. The bitter, old man syndrome does not work. Ever. The folks who tear down everything around themselves in order to feel taller and more capable than the competition are deluding themselves. The reality is that the time and energy spent on mentally softening the foundation of those around you isn’t doing anything to harm your competition. While they’re moving forward, you’re stuck in first gear, waving your fist in the air and coming up with unconvincing excuses for your potential failures as well as your competition’s successes. That approach doesn’t work. It’s stifling. It’s a dead end.

I still say “I wish I had thought of that” when paging through design annuals. I still feel the twinge of envy when someone other than myself creates something that impresses me. But I use it now. I look forward to it. It’s downright inspiring.

Keyboard Shortcuts work like chords on a piano or a guitar in that, just like playing an instrument, with enough practice and repetition, you won’t even need to think about what you’re doing. Your fingers will do all of the work for you, like little autonomous digits that can get things done without your careful attention and care.

The following Keyboard Shortcuts for Adobe Photoshop come in handy no matter what your skill level. Be warned that they’re based on an Apple keyboard, so don’t blame me when your Windows machine starts billowing smoke and melts down into a small, compact ball of plastic and metal.

Commands

Show/Hide Grid
cmd + ‘

Merge Layers
cmd + E

New Layer by Copying a Selection
cmd + J

Move Selection in 10 Pixel Increments
shft + Arrow Keys

Reselect
cmd + shft + D

Select Next/Previous Layer
opt + [ or option + ]

Apply Most Recent Filter
cmd + F

New Layer (no dialog)
cmd + opt + shft + N

Hyphenation (on / off)
cmd + opt + shft + H

Clear Guides
cmd + opt + shft + ;

For a more thorough, and downright exhausting, list of shortcuts, visit Adobe’s help page.

1. CardMunch: There’s nothing more tedious and time consuming than sitting down at your desk with a pile of business cards with information that needs to be added to your contacts. This app is a business card transcription service. I simply snap a picture of the business card and several hours later the information is transcribed and added to my contacts. The app also allows me to invite the contacts to my LinkedIn network. This app recently came in handy when I was at networking breakfast and the gentleman sitting beside me ran out of business cards. Instead of him having to choose to give his card to either me or the other person sitting beside him, I simply took a picture of the card with CardMunch and captured all of his information. Not only was I able to get his contact information, but by the time the event ended, he was added to my contacts and received a LinkedIn invitation to my network.

2. LinkedIn: In today’s world of career nomads and major industry changes (where my investment banking friends at?), LinkedIn is a must-have for every professional. The social media website has added great new features since its IPO. The mobile app helps you to keep track of your network, including your connections’ profile updates, career changes and more. Expand your network and stay in touch while you’re on the go.

3. Evernote: Stop writing notes to yourself on the back of receipts and get rid of that sticky pile of post-it notes. Use Evernote to keep track of all the messages that your write to yourself. With this app, you can create notes and include attachments, pictures and voice notes. You can also enable geo-tagging that allows you tag an area you’re near with a note, which is really helpful for those of us who never remember where we parked the car. All the notes are saved in a searchable database making it easier than ever to find the note you’re looking for.

4. MyFitnessPal: I recently participated in Leadership Boca where I spent the entire Wednesday every other week being shuffled from one event to another. Many of the sites we visited generously offered snacks and drinks as we toured their facility and learned more about their organization. It didn’t take long for me to realize the additional calories that were making their way onto my hips. I began using MyFitnessPal, which helped me to count my calories and keep an eye on the calories that I didn’t need to add to my daily intake. The app allows you to scan the barcodes of food items, as well as input menu items from various restaurants to help you track your daily calorie count. This app is perfect for those of you who have several Starbucks and lunch meetings throughout the week. You may not realize how quickly those coffees and soup-and-salad combos add up.

5. WhiteNoise: I use this app all the time. When I have some downtime between meetings at Starbucks and want to focus on writing, I drown out the noise and focus. I also use this app when I’m traveling and staying at a hotel in a busy city. I love the different selections from the simple White Noise to Beach Waves Crashing and Extreme Rain Pouring. It also has a nifty “sleep” feature that can be set before bed.

What apps help you get through your busy workweek? Leave your suggestions in the comments below.

President Barack Obama is no stranger to social media. From the campaign trail to his presidency, President Obama has remained active on Twitter, YouTube, and other social networks. Now, he’s using FourSquare, a location-based social networking site. In a recent blog post, the White House announced that it is the newest way for people to engage with the administration. The more than 10 million FourSquare users worldwide will be able to keep up with where the president has visited, read “tips,” find historical information, see pictures and more. The White House is encouraging FourSquare users to follow the president’s Economic Bus Tour and “check-in to let friends know you’re there.” Aside from the addition of its newest high-profile user, FourSquare continues to update and launch new features making it easier for businesses to use this social network and a lot more fun for its users too.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Twitter

Last week, images and videos of looting, senseless violence and buildings ablaze appeared all over the news and social media networks. The riots began as a small protest and morphed into a violent mob of destruction that spread across inner cities to suburbs. It began to appear as though they were rioting for the sake of rioting and not fighting for an actual cause. The psychology of this will likely be debated for many years to come – whether it was the result of a generation of entitlement, failed democracy or a bad economy. Either way, what is important to note is that a few individuals using social media, namely BlackBerry Messenger, a private instant messenger found on BlackBerrys, orchestrated much of the unrest. These messages eventually made their way to Facebook, which quickly spread across the masses and ultimately led to hordes of people involved in violent activities and looting. As a result of this, public officials in the U.K. are meeting with representatives from Facebook, Twitter and RIM (maker of the Blackberry) to discuss their obligations during times of public unrest. No doubt civil rights groups will oppose any limitation of the use of social media. In the meantime, the use of social media for good is seen as people are coming together using  #RiotCleanup to rebuild the community and joining forces to bring criminals to justice.

IAB v. ICANN

The International Advertising Bureau (IAB) is taking issue with International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’s (ICANN) recent announcement of expanding Top-Level Domains (TLD), which would enable brands to register any word as a TLD. That means in addition to more well-known TLDs such as .com, .org or .gov, TLDs such as .apple, .nike and .florida could be created. But it comes at a high cost and IAB is arguing that ICANN did not consider the economic impact.  Cybersquatters could manipulate the opportunity and potentially do tremendous damage to brands and make it difficult for brands to protect their trademarks. ICANN responded by saying they disagree with IAB and they are not backing down. Not everyone agrees with IABs concerns, here’s an article that describes the benefits of the new TLDs and the potential for companies and industry associations to expand their marketing and branding initiatives online. As the debate continues, it will be interesting to see what TLDs are created in the next few months.