Building a modern eCommerce store

WordPress is great for promotion. We’ve been building on the amazing platform since 2004. But when you need a store, it’s not fire and forget. Just a few short years ago, an online retailer could make a single investment, build a store, and then will just a little TLC, keep it running, generating sales. Today, that’s just not true anymore.

When you run a store you have two options. Pay into a monthly system, like Zen Cart, or go Open Source. From the gate, open source looks like a perfect solution. No cost; lot’s of people using them; all the hard work is done, right? Nothing is ever simple.

For Custom Engraving Company, we built their new store using OpenCart. While it is a great, clean platform, using it does not mean everything is free and easy. From purchasing critical mods to continual updates, when you go the open source path, you have got to keep it current. Maintenance is not an option–you have to budget in and plan for crisis management. Just because a module exists, does not mean it works. It’s one thing to develop trust in a platform. We love WordPress and we love OpenCart. But we’ve run into many modules that just don’t cut the mustard or fill our current need. And the more we add, the more we have to keep updated and working.

Debugging a platform to work seamlessly for your needs is like tailoring a decent suit. And that is only for the build. Once your site is up and running, it’s a continual process of customization, corrections, fixes and debugging. Keeping your store up to date is absolutely essential.

New hacks and exploits to eCommerce sites and platforms are discovered every day. Plugins and modules that once worked perfectly get updated, often for security. And when you’re an online retailer, you can never afford to break trust with your customers. As important as customer service is, and delivering an excellent product–secure transactions are a critical third leg of your platform.

From backing up you products to updating modules and plug-ins, from constant scanning for malware and attacks to safeguarding customer info, running an eStore requires a watchful eye. The good ol’ days are gone, and competition from the big guys, and the little guys, happens at warp speed. Custom Engraving knows to remain a leader in the space, they had to step up their internet game. Make sure the people who help you manage your business critical assets are there for the long term.

Visit CustomEngravingCompany.com

For Availity, a healthcare information network, Eric headed the charge for their outreach and user communications from 2009-2010. From text heavy alert messages, we changed the way they spoke to their customers and prospects. Instead of blindly expecting our users to tune in, we created compelling messaging that addressed their needs and packaged it more like advertising than boring, technical alerts. Using visual ePostcards that linked back to their site, we projected a visual message that addressed needs. With simple linking to informative pages on the marketing website, usage was easily measured.

We also changed the scope of the main newsletter, eFocus. Originally created to communicate changes in the service, it really just told users what was wrong with Availity. Changing the focus, we presented solutions and highlighted growth and expansion, how they were better serving their users–and addressing user needs. Designing it with more visual appeal, we made it easily navigable and wrote with items as stories. And by highlighting help desk employees with a monthly spotlight, we put a face on the people who solved customer problems, showing the expertise of their amazing call center. Soon after, the company adopted a “Voice of the Customer” campaign to understand its users.

For Availity, we created new communication channels, refined how they used traditional tools, and changed the tone of the conversation, from problems to solutions. What you say and how you say it makes all the difference.

Adept at using third party tools to manage your lists and creating opt-in subscriptions, Longbow can change the way you reach out to your audience. For more infomation, contact us today.

It’s true. Diesel engines can run on fuel made from used vegetable oil. Celebs from Daryl Hannah to our pals at GreaseCar.com know that it makes sense to run our cars on old french fry oil. But the idea hasn’t grown up that much. It hasn’t reached critical mass, even in an era of pricey petrol.

Restaurants and just about everywhere people cook food, use fryers. From french fries to tortillas, egg rolls to onion rings, all use vegetable oil. Sooner rather than later, that oil needs to get swapped for clean stuff and that’s where Green Futures comes in.

In most cases, restaurants and food facilities pay for someone to come in and take away the old oil. Some services pay for the privilege, though for pennies on the dollar. But worse, do you know what happens to all that old oil? The bulk of it gets sprayed on food stock, chickens and such as a, get this, nutrient supplement. The practice is actually banned in the European Union. In 2002, when Mad Cow disease swept the EU, they figured out that used grease isn’t really that good an idea, as harmful bacteria enters the food supply. But old oil does makes for some tasty biodiesel fuel.

Working with Community Greenhouse Foundation, a non profit sustainability facilitator that we’ve known for over eight years, we were asked to brainstorm creative ways to get the word out. Working form our favorite blogging platform, WordPress, we built a powerful social media focused site and outreach platform.

Restaurants donate their oil and Green Futures picks it up, keeping their kitchens clean and green. In exchange they get a tax credit, worth much more than they’ve ever been paid for their waste vegetable oil–sometimes even 10 times as much.

The Green Futures site then talks about each restaurant that takes the pledge for a greener future. We promote them and build up their facebook traffic. And everyone wins.

To seal the deal, proceeds go towards education and scholarships, helping local college students pay for tuition for classes and degrees in sustainability, renewable and alternative energy. Win-Win-Win!

For more infomation visit Green-Futures.org.

Social Media is not just a link to Facebook–it’s connecting with people. To help you spread the word about your business or non-profit, contact us today.

The heart of Custom Engraving Company is their incredible expertise and experience in the engraving business. Over the past 18 years, they have created a pantheon of brands and websites which promote their offerings. From the very focused autoplates.com, which markets car focused personalized items, to Imprint Promotions, it’s promotional products brand the central concept of personalization keeps customers flocking to the company’s websites.

The company also manages retail venues, event services, and sells a collection of products, from team sports items to flags of the world; from it’s custom sign shop to vehicle wraps; from wedding stationary to business cards… and the list goes on and on. It’s natural to want to show the world every possible offering, but on the web, focus is the key.

CustomEngravingCompany.com is about engraving. From things that can be engraved to the machines that do it, the challenge here was to create a store that could naturally focus all they do.

For more information, visit customengravingcompany.com

Longbow believes in integrated marketing. Integrated Marketing is a catch phrase that simply means, all your promotional tools and communications are in synch and follow the same style guidelines. Being “on-brand” is critical for any company, and we talk about integrated marketing at Longbow because it’s fundamental to the way we do business–and save you money.

So how do we do that? At Longbow, we’re a creative services firm. We’re the people you, and often agencies, turn to when they need cutting edge design, especially in different media, like print, web or presentation.

We start off with one body of work–one creative session. Whether we begin with a website design, sales collateral or event display, we hone in on your identity, your logo and the visual cues and styles that are core to your image. From this baseline, we then develop everything you need, as you need it.

For DTx, we leveraged one creative body of work, which included photo shoots of their lean production facility, products and staff, to build an updated website, print, sales collateral, point of sale and event display.

After that, we worked with their marketing manager and helped then get ink in local papers, the Orlando Sentinel and Orlando Business Journal, and trade publications. This work shows how we can be an integral extension of your team and work in many channelsmto promote your business.

Despite the computer revolution, cars got better fuel efficiency in 1975. The batteries that power them are using technology created during World War I. What’s the disconnect? And how can we re-wire the planet? How can we bring invention and innovation, sustainable solutions and a concern about our future directly to the inhabitants of Planet Earth?

The key is collaboration and innovation–Enter PlanetShifter.com

By gathering new idea-driven artists, writers, musicians, and inventors, PlanetShifter.com sets the stage to be more than a face forum, creating what we call an “innovation network”. Connecting green and innovation to those who can spread the word is a key element not found in current social networks. We are creating an action network, a proactive group of doers and speakers. A SmartGroup of creative souls that bypass the din of a failing mass media.

What Can You Do in PlanetShifter.com?

At PlanetShifter.com, you can upload and find green and innovative ideas, companies and people. You can show off your work, test an idea, start a discussion, and seek-out partners for projects and start-ups. And you can learn about, promote and develop new sustainable products and services. Members can take part in an art happening, research deep into the site’s data base and sit in on the Event Circle, the bi-weekly presenters forum.

This is Your Wake-up Call

1.) Go to http://PlanetShifter.com and sign up as a member. Grab the How to Collaborate Guide and dig in!
2.) Show us your art, give up a song, or write about how you get the strength to get up every morning and battle the status quo, to do what is right.
3.) Become a Event Circle Presenter and use the platform to promote sustainability and inspire others to action. Bring up problems you see, reveal opportunities and solutions and share success stories.

###

For more information contact:
Willi Paul, Executive Producer
PlanetShifter.com
center@planetshifter.com

Eric Needle, Media Contact
LongbowSG
e@longbow.net

About Willi Paul
Willi Paul is a writer, artist and innovator. A Sustainability Program Design Consultant, based in Oakland,
California, he also serves as Director of Sustainability for ZeroWasteSolutions.com, and is the featured columnist for ArticleGarden.com. He is writing a novella for kids about life after oil in northern California called “AOL GreenLoc”, CA. He invented the precursor to the online community called the electronic charrette in 1996. Visit his ePortfolio at willipaul.com.

PlanetShifter.com is a collaboration to work network. It’s a think tank, a virtual water cooler meet-up, and a place to share and refine ideas about sustainability. The community will be driven by artists, musicians, writers and inventors. Rather than launch the new site, its creator and members want to ‘land’ it.

The site is centered on the concept of a satellite that represents the distinct aspects of the community. Observing from orbit, it reveals global issues, invites creative collaboration, and broadcasts solutions. The Rotator is based on Native American dream catchers as it provides hope and a vehicle for positive change.

We’re not a Facebook or MySpace, but an ‘innovation network,” executive producer and founder Willi Paul relates. PlanetShifter.com challenges members to go beyond the upload soap opera of social networks, to facilitate collaboration and build the next ‘world after oil’, a new green ethic beyond corporate greed and failed world governments.

What Can You Do in PlanetShifter.com?
At PlanetShifter.com, you can upload and find green and innovative ideas, companies and people. You can show off your work, test an idea, start a discussion, and seek-out partners for projects and start-ups. And you can learn about, promote and develop new sustainable products and services. Members can take part in an art happening, research deep into the site’s data base and sit in on the Event Circle, the bi-weekly presenters forum.

By gathering so many creative people, challenged about how to create a greener planet, the innovation network hopes to accelerate the adoption of better ways of managing our world. The community hopes to shift the planet’s course, from self destruction to a sustainable tomorrow.

“PlanetShifter.com has created a place on the web where creative thinkers and doers can collaborate and address big picture issues. Eric Needle, Longbow’s front man relates. By bringing together inventors, artists, writers, and musicians, the brand creates a different kind of social network based on awareness and action. PlanetShifter.com is more than a resume-blaster or place to play games with your 500 best friends; it’s a place where thinkers can turn ideas into action.”

About the Founder
Willi Paul is a writer, artist and innovator. A Sustainability Program Design Consultant, based in Oakland, California, he also serves as Director of Sustainability for ZeroWasteSolutions.com, and is the featured columnist for articlegarden.com. He is writing a novella for kids about life after oil in northern California called “AOL GreenLoc”, CA. He invented the precursor to the online community called the electronic charrette in 1996. His ePortfolio is at willipaul.com.

Willi Paul reveals the mission: “PlanetShifter.com is focused on creative, sustainable solutions and we invite artists, musicians, writers and inventors from across the planet to share their work, offer critique and form new bonds and enterprises.”

###

For media inquiries, contact
Eric Needle, Longbow Strategic Group
e@longbow.net

Visit PlanetShifter.com

In 2001, the healthcare world was focused on legislation that would change the way hospitals, doctors and insurance companies would do business. HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, was looming as real deadlines had to be met. Patient practices had to manage patient’s information properly, or face steep fines and potential litigation.

Emerson Strategic Group taught hospitals and provider offices about HIPAA and how it effected healthcare practices. From proper management of confidential patient information to office best practices, we built up this consultancy by establishing the principal as a credible expert, building a speaking campaign and creating a suite of products that promoted best practices.

We designed Emerson’s identity and were instrumental in the creation and production of the HIPAAWise product suite which helped establish the principal as an expert in HIPAA legislation and implementation.

Often the work we perform provides insight into refining your business. For this healthcare consultant, we identified revenue streams that built credibility and created a product line that raised the bar for the industry.

Mariann Yeager, Emerson SG’s President, stated, “Eric’s work is exceptional. He designed and created Emerson’s marketing portfolio, including the image, logo, web site, messaging and collateral. Eric is unique in his ability to combine creative genius and strategic thinking.”

From corporate image to product identity, outreach and execution, we built a brand that made a difference at a crucial time. Emerson was acquired in 2005.

GreenFtLauderdale.com provides a conduit to learn, educate, promote and communicate the benefits of a greener community. The goal of the site is to provide communities with the resources and information related to sustainable green living and a more sustainable future.

The site focuses on three main content channels: articles, directory and events. The articles section contains stories and profiles about people and organizations doing good things in the community. We promote the idea of being greener or living sustainably, by showing success stories–people making a difference. Articles are divided into major categories including, technology, sustainability, art, balance, ethics, faith, fitness, nature and teamwork– all which can influence the ability of a community to become more sustainable.

Our site provides a resource for the community to find organizations, city resources and businesses that differentiate themselves by being green and offering product and services that indeed make Ft Lauderdale a better place. The site offers the opportunity for businesses to support the efforts of Community Greenhouse Foundation. Sponsoring the site is a tax deductible donation.

GreenFtLauderdale.com launched on April 26, 2008 at the City of Fort Lauderdale’s Green Living Expo celebrating Earth day and Arbor day.

Find out more about the program at www.greenftlauderdale.com

For more information, contact:
Richard Evans, CEO, Community Greenhouse Foundation
786.402.5155 tel or email revans@communitygreenhouse.org

The Community Greenhouse Foundation The Community Greenhouse Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation, registered in the state of Florida. The foundation’s mission is to facilitate a greener America, one community at a time.

So how do you rise above the noise? How do you get people to notice what your organization is doing? In marketing we call it differentiation. Showing how different you are. Not only do you have to be creative, you need to understand your market, in order to contrast from the other guys.

In a crunched housing market, one builder is doing just fine. It’s not because of a random marketing exercise, but rather through their passion for their trade. Passion is the best differentiator. When you love what you do it permeates every part of your business.

Evergreen Building and Development is a small, custom home builder, working just north of the Jacksonville metro area. What makes Evergreen different is their experience in green building and their will to translate energy efficiency into houses people can afford. With a history of promoting sustainable development and find raising, since 2003, they’ve discovered financing options that make it all possible.

Being different in the residential building space means building what people really need: low power bills and water efficiency, both critical in Georgia and North Florida. It’s not leading edge California home designs, rather applying the best materials, practices and principals. It’s smart building.

We think this budding home builder is on the right track and built an identity and internet presence that connects the right product with the right audience.

How do you show that your business cares? How can you tell your story, spread the word, about the good work, products and services you deliver? Get Green Directory is a relevant, online resource that helps bring together people who are working for a cleaner, greener tomorrow.

“We’ve built directories before”, Eric Needle, from Longbow relates. “Adding an ongoing series of Expos to drive the Get Green Directory, creates real value and opportunity for advertisers. Constant promotion gets us in front of customers and keeps us in the public eye. That’s how we raise awareness and promote sustainable products and services”.

Other Giant3 ventures, GreenOrlando.com and GreenBrevard.com add to the internet buzz by blogging the events live and writing about exhibitors.

“Like spokes of a wheel, we’ve created a network of sites that cross promote and increase our communication relevancy, building more value to our advertisers,” Needle adds. “Using many media channels creates a marketing platform that is much more effective for our clients”.

News is a very powerful medium. It can help tell your story and illustrate who you are, who you’ve worked with, and where you’re going. And yet, many organizations don’t effectively use public relations to communicate.

The press release is a simple tool that helps get the word out. Using news as a part of your marketing strategy has many benefits, yet it’s often hard to quantify them or get the bean counters to foot the bill. I tell you today, though, that I’ve found news to be much more effective than advertising.

Depending on your industry, there are armies of people who get paid to point out successes and failures in the business world. Each niche audience has spawned huge assortments of trade publications, newsletters, portals, directories and eZines to talk about trends. From local chambers of commerce to regional and state magazines to national cable news, everyone is hungry for information. In business, a little knowledge on trends, statistics — and what the other guy is doing — can make or break you.

Understanding that media exists, understanding your market and you place in it, how do you take advantage of all this? How can you rise above the static and get noticed?

One company, Amphion Innovations, has done an amazing job at using news to tell their story. Using a focused, hands-on company building approach, Amphion Innovations builds shareholder value in high growth companies in the medical and technology sectors. The people at Amphion “get it” when it comes to PR.

While the newsworthiness of any article or release is important, not every item is meant to get ink. By reading through the News and articles on the Amphion site, we discover who they are. Like a timeline that shows all the people they’ve worked with, you get a glimpse into who they are–and why you would trust them or want to invest in their companies.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Charlie Morgan and the crew at Amphion since the late 1990′s. Entrusted with their website, we recently rebuilt the entire site and manage the way they present their news online.

To ignore News and Public relations is a missed opportunity. From writing press releases to archiving your history, trade show strategies to placing your news, we can help you promote your organization.

Contact Eric today at e@longbow.net

Visit the Amphion Innovation website here at www.AmphionPlc.com

The key to a good sell sheet or product slick is focus. Communicating your message is critical. Working with many technical companies in diverse markets, we see similarities. It’s easy to tell all the things you can do, but how does your product or service fill the needs of the customer? When you can turn around your way of thinking and look what a user needs, you start to get on better footing. Talk to your customers, find out what moves them and you might just discover a new market or ways to tweak your offering for bigger impact.

Working with MEDai we helped create a suite of updated product sheets to better market to the healthcare space. MEDai, Inc. is a leading health information company, offering award-winning solutions to the payor and provider markets. These processes provide healthcare providers solutions that incorporate disease focused severity adjustment, benchmarking and evidence-based processes of care to improve outcomes in a hospital-based setting.

Visit their site at www.medai.com

Whether it’s a room, like on an HGTV show like Trading Spaces or a website, the idea is really the same. A designer really moves things around so they best fit a space or serves someone’s needs.

I think many site builders never quite hit the mark because they never really understand both sides of the equation. Look and feel, GUI, navigation and getting around is critical. What’s the point in having a ton of information if your audience never finds it? As art guys, we care about what it all looks like, but as designers, we need to be analytical, and present everything where the right people can see it.

For Sorensen Moving & Storage, an Allied Van Lines agent here in Melbourne Florida, we saw a different way to communicate to their customers. They needed more than a face lift for their public internet site.

For starters, we needed a site that let you know you were at an Allied Van Lines affiliate site. The design is clean and concise, and focuses on your needs. When you need to move, residential or office, what info do you seek on the net? You need to know cost and you need to understand the process. Big buttons on the left address these needs.

Then, by focusing on different audiences, we direct customers to the right place on their site and the right people to contact, be it someone who’s relocating to a new area or a business with serious commercial needs.

And in the process, we talk about the Sorensen’s 50+ year history of serving Central Florida. The result is a streamlined site that gives people what they need. And a happy Artemis client. Longbow often works behind the scenes with a number of partners, providing design and ease of use or big picture strategic marketing.

Visit the Sorensen Moving and Storage site at www.sorensen-allied.com

Many of our clients need illustration and more often and not, it’s in a rushed scenario. Though Photoshop and raster image editors are great in a pinch, the power of vector drawing is worth the extra energy.

Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand and Corel Draw have long been valuable tools in the artist’s quiver. The value and reason for making vector art, though, is in the application.

To avoid technical art-geek speak, you can simply define graphic files as either being raster or vector. A raster file is made of lots of individual squares of color called pixels. Vector refers to a file composed of lines and points, curves and fills. The magic in vector is scalability. Raster is the format of choice for photos, while vector art can be scaled to fit on the side of a blimp, with zero loss of image quality.

When we work for you, we’re most efficient when we can create one creative body of work, and then apply it, in all media. Case in point, Solicore, maker of ultra-thin batteries used in ID, credit cards and other nifty products, needed to show just how tiny and flexible their product is. When working on sales sheets, we realized we had no art to draw upon.

Drawing their product shows prospects what their batteries can do–and helps others see possible uses. And creating it in Illustrator, allowed us to easily use the same graphics on their trade show booth. In a time crunch, having vector illustration also let us email a tiny file, as opposed to having to FedEx a monster-sized raster version.

Another benefit of using this format is that every piece of these images can be moved and stretched, color change and given perspective. This kind of versatility allowed us to make several different versions quickly and simply. Using these files in Flash for some simple animations is also a snap. And because they are vector, they are perfect for anything Flash can deliver.

We’ve been using these apps since 1992… with over 2500 flight hours in Illustrator. Though not perfect for every use, vector is often the right tool for the right job.

Better managing what you print and the quantities you use is a good first step. Being intentional about printing less has dramatic results and effects your costs in a big way. A well thought out marketing plan helps you identify your print needs over long periods of time and that can minimize how often you go to the printer. That alone saves dollars for you and reduces cleanup and shipping.

Corporate and product identity can incorporate smart use of materials from the onset. A client with a full color logo has to use the four color process (at a minimum) for every piece of collateral they make. Four inks versus two adds up.

When we designed brochures and collateral for Community Greenhouse Foundation, we first started with unbleached, recycled paper. We opted for two colors instead of full color. And we produced a year’s worth of material in one shot. Our client liked the look so much, when we built their website, we carried over the style to the web and even saved time in the design process.

Visit Community Greenhouse Foundation on the web at www.communitygreenhouse.com

And it’s not just about environmental stewardship. As we worked with Brevard Job Link on their annual report we questioned the desire to make their twelve page spread in full color. Printing the bulk of the report in two color shaved costs dramatically, and in an organization funded by the public, it’s important to show cost-consciousness.

The printing process uses all sorts of resources. From paper and ink to the chemicals used up in the process, and last, shipping or mailing. Being intentional about how you print saves you money and reduces materials. Besides being just smart, it shows your organization’s values. Less is more.

Use Longbow. We can help you print smarter.

Also visit Hopper Press and help us spread the word about greener print.

Not for profits face a different set of issues than business clients. A volunteer-based group has to continually keep it’s information flowing. Program info has to be accurate, timely and then sell the idea to staff, supporters and newcomers. NPOs require more communication management than corporate clients, often with little or no budget and strained staff. Events range from public affairs and fundraisers to seminars and workshops. Bingo night, the annual 5k walk, training session and small group classes all require communications to make them work.

How do you get the word out? For TSA, The Tourette’s Syndrome Association of Florida, we’ve begun by building a simple website. Often we work in stages to help get an NPO where it needs to be. Just gathering general info can be a huge task–keeping it current is an ongoing challenge.

Internet is a great place to begin, as costs to distribute are almost zero. The ease with which you can change information is also a huge factor–and why your site should take precedance over print and other media. Often with an NPO we’re doing all the work in one fell swoop. The net allows for changes, refinement and correction. Once we’ve built a firm foundation, then we can ellaborate, add features that increase outreach.

We’ve got a soft place in our heart for not for profits. Serving any NPO is a daunting task–the need never ends. Find someone who is willing to partner with you for the long term and is vested in your community. For us, we’ve found the experience challenging and rewarding… and in the end everyone wins.

Who is ATD? We began work with Automated Trading Desk, (ATD) with illustration that distilled down the technical process upon which their business is founded. How can you compress the intellectual property, genius, and thousands of man hours into one picture? It’s a daunting task, but one that proves the adage, a picture is worth a thousand words. That’s what ADT needed–a way to quickly communicate why they were so innovative. In addition, we helped wordsmith their content throughout the process, culminating in their tag line, “ATD is technology for smarter trading”.

As we worked on their corporate brochure, we built from this, and stating what differentiated ATD from competitors, built the piece on these lines: ” ATD is opportunity. ATD is expertise. ATD is experience. Leveraging technology for smarter trading.”

In relation to their identity, we simplified the existing logo, and applied it as seen in the brochure, and then extended this to their public internet site. We also visually created the rising stock ticks which carry through their pieces.

We mark our company, our products and our services with a brand. We call these ideas about visual icons, logos, styles and cues–your identity.

Branding is the consistent application of your identity. And it can mean more than just that mark, your logo. It can mean all your organization is, its mission, its goals and vision. Well crafted branding goes beyond the logo.

In the promotion of your business, your branding efforts really makes marketing and promotion a lot easier. Every document that leaves your office should bear the same mark, the same branding. From printed material to internet, from business cards to tradeshow campaign, from direct mail to presentations, they all need to project your image. When, in unison, all your departments speak the same message, the public hears an organized chorus. When everything is different, it’s a jumble, a din, and confusion sets in.

For NPC’s HealthePay, we created a strong identity, and then projected it across all their materials. In the crowded healthcare financial space, we clearly and concisely projected our brand. As added benefit, the work was built from one body of creative work, significantly lowering costs to produce.

With any new client, our job is to discover who you are and where you want to go. Defining your positioning is critical. Position describes your market, the segment you live in, and identifies not just you, but everyone else who occupies that space; Yes, the competition. Often we have preconceptions or misconceptions about our competition. Knowing your competition allows us to build upon your strengths and differentiate them. While some of this goes beyond the scope of a print project, it’s all relevant.

The next critical cog is understanding your audience. Again, a little research now pays off big, making your campaign, the reason for the brochure, that much more successful. Not knowing who we’re speaking to can negate all this work.

Your brochure speaks volumes about you, on many different levels. By tieing into your strengths and connecting to your audience, we increase it’s value; We make it worth the effort.

Where to begin? The most difficult part in working with a designer, especially with your image, is educating, communicating who you are. Most companies can barely verbalize who they are to their staff, never mind an outsider. Your identity must, first and foremost, be built by consensus and direction from your leadership. Until you can identify who you are–not who you think you are, you can hardly begin the process.

At Longbow, identity is at the core of what we do. Since 1994, I’ve personally been involved in identity for many organizations, corporations and the products and services they provide. Our experience results in an inclusive process, where you have input at every stage.

WEDI, the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange, is a national member-based heathcare organization focused on electronic records in healthcare, their use and legislative compliance. Their core focus is to improve the quality of healthcare through effective and efficient information exchange and management.

For WEDI, it was imperative to retain ties to the past, yet look forward to the future. In their new identity we took cues from the original and refined the logotype, ever conscious of the healthcare industry and their relationship to it.