During the holiday season, plenty of us go shopping to find stocking stuffers or other small items as holiday gift-giving filler. Often we do so just because it’s the thing to do without really considering the gift’s value or usefulness to the recipient. It’s sad to say, but many of these trinkets turn up as “white elephant” gifts at parties the following year. While it is easy to find an abundance of these cheap, on-sale items, there is probably no worse gift than a “great deal” that is impractical.

This is even true in regards to web design and marketing solutions. Some web marketing companies have unleashed their “web stuffers” aimed at businesses: quick-fix concepts for your web needs. We have all seen the promises of the everything-you-need, highly-effective websites, with do-it-yourself simplicity all for just a few dollars. Do these options really satisfy or do they only serve as temporary solutions that only pacify your need to do something? In our experience, companies are much more effective when they do their web marketing right.

In regards to websites and gift giving, just doing something for the sake of it rarely leads to long lasting, memorable experience. We all want to make a quality impression on our close friends and clients alike.

Now’s the time to make a great impression. It’s time to get a customized web solution that you’ll be proud of and really helps you grow your business. And this holiday season, take time to give a thoughtful, quality gift. You just might make someone’s day.

Email marketing is dead for most of us. Well, maybe not dead, but definitely on life-support.

Think about it.

We all have a few companies that we allow into our inbox but we’ve opted out of most email campaigns. The few that remain are hand-picked. But some of those still get lost in our inbox without even being opened. The impersonal, repetitive and often unprofessional nature of most eblasts just turn people off.

Blitzkrieg marketing doesn’t work like it used to.

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In honor of Valentine’s Day, we have created our first infographic! We are pretty excited about it. The graphic illustrates the ingredients necessary to establish true brand loyalty with your customers and clients.

View the infographic after the jump. Please check it out and leave a comment letting us know what you think!

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We came across this infographic by Colin Harman and thought that it summed up the graphic design/marketing process rather nicely. Plus, who doesn’t love a Venn diagram? This graphic illustrates that in our field, as in many, you get what you pay for.

We think that producing quality work in an efficient manner is the only way to go.

What are your thoughts? How would you like your graphic design?

Whether you like it of not, your website is a big part of what people think about your company. It is an important extension of your brand. The problem is that most sites don’t work like they should. The main function of a website is to transform visitors into customers by providing useful content to create meaningful interaction.

We’ve compiled a short list of four elements that a website should have to jump start those interactions.

#1 Curb Appeal
When you watch all those house-flipping and home-remodeling shows, there is one phrase that you hear over and over: curb appeal. It’s important to have a welcoming, attractive street view so that people will want to find out more about the property. The same is true about a website. Your home page must look great and be easy to navigate in order to draw people in. This may be your only chance to make a good impression and to guide the user along the path to the desired action.

See elements 2-4 after the jump!

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It’s time to make your money work smarter. Make the most of your money by taking advantage of your year-end tax situation.

Most successful businesses use their money to make more money. You can SAVE 18-42%* reinvesting into your image, website, or marketing materials. Contact us by Friday, December 31st 2010 to learn more on how you can let your clients and prospects know that you are a trustworthy partner and you know what you’re doing!

*Based on typical federal and state tax rates for corporate profits.

The history of the day after Thanksgiving being the official start of the holiday shopping season may be linked with modern concept of a Santa Claus parade.

Beginning in the late 19th century, many Santa parades or Thanksgiving Day parades were sponsored by large department stores. Parades celebrating Thanksgiving often include an appearance by Santa at the end of the parade, with the idea that ‘Santa has arrived’ or ‘Santa is just around the corner’. Department stores would use the parades to launch their holiday advertising push. Eventually it became an unwritten rule that no store would try doing Christmas advertising before the parade was over. Because of this, the day after Thanksgiving became the day when the shopping season officially started.

Perhaps the earliest know reference to “Black Friday” as the day after thanksgiving, was made in 1966 remarking on the day’s significance to the city of Philadelphia. Philly’s police department was not too excited about the influx of rabid shoppers and subsequent chaos so they had a rather dim outlook on the day. The term gained wider exposure when it was mentioned by the New York Times in 1975. It has also been suggested that the term is in reference to the accounting practice of labeling deficits in red ink and profits in black. To retailers, the day after thanksgiving hopefully represents a day of incredible profits.

– Shameless plug! –

Just as Black Friday draws customers in droves to retail and brings companies out of the red into black, OneTen’s design and marketing expertise help do the same for your organization.

Image via Rocky Mountain News

Check out these impeccably designed fake vintage advertisements for Facebook, Twitter Skype and YouTube. The ads were created by Sao Paulo-based Moma Propaganda for Maximidia Seminars‘ “Everything Ages Fast“ campaign. Notice the attention to detail in the cleverly written body copy! See more ads after the jump.

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Warning: OneTen Creative has entered the blogosphere. It’s been a little while coming, but we wanted to make sure we do it right!

A few things that you’ll find on our blog are:
- Concepts about marketing and ways to grow your business
- Thoughts on graphic design and glimpses into the creative process
- OneTen news that highlights some of what’s brewing here at our lab
- Posts that just might inspire you to be more creative

We hope you’ll check back often and let us know what you think. If you like what you see, please spread the word!