Does the mention of social media marketing send your heart a-twitter?  With all the headlines Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media outlets are getting in the business world, by now most business owners are aware that this new-fangled social media isn’t going anywhere. The fact is that social media and inbound marketing are quickly becoming the new frontiers in getting in front of an increasingly-tech-savvy audience.

To help our clients stay on the cutting edge of their marketing efforts, CFX Creative has added social media marketing to our service offering.

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A while back, we were introduced to a site that lets you type in your web site’s domain name – or even a specific page URL on your site – to see if the content on your page is being used on any other sites.  We thought this was an interesting concept, so we plugged in our URL and were shocked to find our content was – word for word – being used on a number of other web sites – without our permission, obviously!

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Starting a new business means a mile-high to-do list on your desk. But, marketing – an essential component of any successful company – often falls to the bottom of the pile, which can be the kiss of death for a start-up.

The Marketing Trenches web site has put together a great list of 10 things to do to jump-start your new company’s marketing efforts.

Click here to read the full article on the Marketing Trenches site.

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The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing – Violate Them at Your Own Risk!

So, you’ve signed up for Twitter and have a few friends on your followers list. Now what?  How do you get the word out and build a bigger following? As with any web site, building a following on Twitter takes time – and effort!  Part of that effort is getting your site listed on as many other sites as possible to increase your reach and link popularity. There are scores of free directory sites that offer free inclusion for your business or organization.

In this instance, we’re focusing on building a larger following for your Twitter profile. To help you along, we’ve compiled a list of 24 free Twitter directory sites where you can add a free profile or listing.

Check out the Design Groupies web site to read the full article and get the list!

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Twitter Tips, Tricks and Tweets

Social Media Explorer has written a great article on the basics of how to start marketing your business using social media. Which sites should you join? How do you keep track of it all? Check out the

full article at the Social Media Explorer web site to learn how to hit the ground running.

We’ve compiled a list of business directory web sites on which you can list your business on for free. The benefit of adding a listing to sites like this is that it increases your link “popularity” – a key element that Google takes into account when determining rankings for particular keywords.

A lot of the sites we’ve included are relevant to Canadian or Vancouver-based businesses, but you can easily find sites specific to your area by doing a Google search for terms like “free business directory” and the name of your city.

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We are now on Twitter! Follow CFX Creative on Twitter to stay up to date on what’s going on at our studio and other fun tidbits of interest to designers and clients alike!

http://www.twitter.com/cfxcreative

The CFX team is excited to announce the launch of the newly-completed Innergy Corporate Yoga web site. Innergy’s on-site corporate yoga classes allow busy employees to increase energy and reduce stress, resulting in a more productive workplace.

Click here to visit the new site and learn more about how Innergy’s services can benefit your company.

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Corporate Yoga by Subodh Gupta

CFX is pleased to welcome Pedersen’s event rentals as our newest client. We are currently working with the Pedersen’s team, along with Allegro Professional Solutions, to re-design the Pedersen’s web site. You can visit their existing site at: www.pedersens.com

Over the past few months, you’ve no doubt received countless e-mail newsletters filled with any number of cleverly-worded sales pitches about how this product or that service is the answer to your depressed-economy prayers. And, while there are certainly many opportunities to be had by forging ahead in the face of economic woes – especially when many of your competitors may be retreating – it’s also important to remain focused on the tone – and frequency! – of your message. When the playing field is empty and you’re standing proudly on the 50-yard line with all eyes on you, what you say, how you say it – and how often – is more important than ever.

Recently, we’ve noticed an interesting – ok, annoying – pattern with one company in particular whose e-mail newsletter we receive. While diligence is an admirable trait in marketing and branding, like most relationships, there’s a fine line between love and hate.

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Though we’re a little late in posting about it (busy busy!), we’re pretty excited to note that we were contacted a couple of months ago by Design Edge Canada’s editor, Ann Meredith Brown. She was looking for a project to feature in the Re-Logo section of the magazine and asked if we had a good before/after identity project we could share with the magazine’s readers. No problem there – we often work on projects where we’re charged to re-design the logo of an existing business as the company grows and evolves.

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We have a bone to pick with those well-meaning name-callers who like to refer to us as the “a-word” – artists. While their verbal path may be paved with good intentions, and there is a certain element of the artistic to design, it needs to be noted that there’s an ocean of difference that distinguishes the roles of artists vs. that of designers.

WHO: Whereas an artist generally produces art for him or herself and then offers the work up for sale in a gallery or to private collectors, a designer is engaged to create a piece that is aimed at a specific pre-determined audience. While it’s a common mistake to believe the designer is working to satisfy the personal preferences of the client themselves, our goal is to appeal to the client’s target demographic, not an individual or group of people in the client’s company.

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