Wilmington Design Company would like to extend a sincere thank you to our client Beth Pancoe of SDI construction for extending an invitation to the Phoenix Employment Ministry Fundraising Luncheon, which was held downtown this afternoon. WDC’s Marketing Manager Keith Riggs had the opportunity to attend.

The Phoenix Employment Ministry is a local non-profit organization geared towards finding satisfying, long-term employment for sheltered, nearly homeless, and under employed residents in the community. Because the organization does not charge clients or employers for their services, today’s fundraiser honored the sponsors and volunteers who keep the program running.

More Info

Here’s a fun site to waste some time on: Curbed.com and their “Broker Fail” section, featuring some of the craziest listing photos from around the world. Here are just a few examples…

Third-party listing syndicators, like Zillow and Trulia first appeared on the web just as the housing market hit its peak, and Realtors around the nation have been both happy and wary about sharing their listings with these national sites as a way to help sales. Today, there seems to be a growing backlash from Realtors who say that the service is neither helping their company nor their buyers and sellers, citing inaccuracy of data as a major complaint.

In the video below, San Diego broker, Jim Abbott argues that inaccurate listing details, along with contact information for agents not associated with a particular property, often frustrate potential buyers and may actually drive them elsewhere. He studied three years of his firm’s sales data and compared listings that were not shared on these national sites versus those they were. “Time after time,” he says, “the listings that we did syndicate compared with the listings that we didn’t had no better outcomes. In fact the ones we didn’t syndicate often sold faster.”

Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff asserts that their company “invests massive resources in making our listings as accurate as possible, and it all starts with what’s provided to us by our partners. Complaining about accuracy while providing us with a less than stellar feed or no feed at all does none of us or our industry any favors. Those who decide to pull listings from sites like ours due to their own business reasons have the right to do so.”

Others say that pulling their listings from sites like Trulia and Zillow does more harm than good. Fred Glick, real estate and mortgage broker, has a great video rebuttal to comment on much of Abbott’s issues:

Now it may be true that these sites are teeming with inaccurate information, but we must remember the human element behind the data. Rascoff states, “…to take that step and then say a key reason was listing accuracy feels disingenuous when they have removed the very direct feed that is the most accurate, often leaving their agents to rely on less reliable options.” In reality, all sites have flawed data in one way or another. For instance, agents may forget they’ve posted twice, or they don’t enter the right information.

To pull a listing off Zillow or Trulia may be a disservice to both buyer and seller. Sellers are looking to reach the largest possible audience by having their homes listed on multiple, highly trafficked sites. They’re not necessarily interested in the politics of placing listings online. It’s also important to let buyers know that just because they see a listing on the Internet, doesn’t mean it’s 100% correct and up-to-date.

Think of social media as being at a party. No one likes to hear someone talk about themselves all night. We like to talk to people who have unique views and ideas or tell great stories or have something interesting to say. On the flip-side, no one pays attention to a wallflower either.

Social media is a great way for a small business to compete with bigger companies. A Facebook post or maybe a single “pinned” image on Pinterest can be the difference between total obscurity to being on page 1 of a Google search. The challenge that so many businesses face is how to manage all of their profiles and accounts to maintain an active presence.

It’s sometimes just not realistic for many businesses to set aside time every day — or even once a week — to regularly update Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google +, Facebook and their blogs. One way to manage all of these outlets is to hire someone to do it for you. Or you can try using some of the helpful tools from Simply Zesty’s article: “10 Ways to Simultaneously Manage All Your Social Media Accounts.“

There was a fascinating educational show on the National Geographic channel some time ago, called “Brain Games,” that had some pretty interesting facts about how our brains work. Having a deeper understanding of the human mind should be every marketer’s objective, since it could aid in the development of better ideas.

In the video below, people were tested to see whether or not they would notice if the person they were just talking to suddenly switched to a different person. The results were surprising…

This test proves how few things we actually pay attention to every day. Our brains have an automatic filter for distractions. We generally aren’t over-thinking unimportant, minor details throughout our day-to-day lives. Worrying too much about those details could impair the way we function. When it comes to marketing, we may even use this knowledge in our designs to create fewer distractions for our target audience (because they aren’t paying attention to them, anyway), so they can better focus on the key message.

Here are some other cool facts about our brains:

• The brain consumes about 17 percent of the body’s total energy but accounts for only 3 percent of body weight.
• The human brain consists of some 100 billion active nerve cells.
• The brain’s neurons communicate by transmitting electrical impulses along their axons. Interactions among neurons can be simple or complex, and the amount of time they take can range from milliseconds to months.
• After about three weeks of gestation, a human fetus’s brain begins to form. By the fourth week, it is identifiable.
• Although the brain registers pain, the organ itself has no pain receptors.
• The brain is constantly sending and receiving information. Motor circuits transmit information away from the brain to muscles and glands, while sensory circuits report findings to the brain.
• The average adult’s attention span is 20 minutes (unless it’s a topic one finds especially interesting).
• Children’s attention spans, however, are usually close to their age in minutes.
• Stress can interfere with the brain’s cognitive processes.
• The brain’s frontal lobe may be a kind of “humor center.” Some people with damage to this area of the brain, especially on the right side, often don’t get jokes.
• As we age, we can often remember long-ago events more easily than recent events.
• Sleep is essential for your brain. Sleep deprivation can lead to “microsleep,” when the brain “shuts off” for a few seconds at a time. An impaired person might lose track of a conversation or task.
• Nerves connect all the body’s organs to the brain. Nerve impulses race to the brain as fast as 250 miles an hour.

Oftentimes, we designers must walk a fine line between giving our clients what they want and giving them what they need for their target market. For example, can you guess the single, most commonly used phrase that makes most designers cringe when they hear it from clients?

If you answered, “Jazz it up,” you’re wrong (that’s the second most irritating phrase). The correct answer is: “Make the logo bigger!” Designers often joke about having to make logos bigger on designs (see Figure 1a), whether on a website, print advertisement or business card. But we should really try to understand why this is such a frequent request from clients. What it comes down to is simply an innate desire to make sure their brand is prominent and noticeable.

Fig. 1a

Clients want to get as much traction as possible with their marketing dollars, especially if they’ve spent much time, effort and budget on creating a professionally-designed logo. But instead of gawking at the idea of a larger than necessary logo, designers should spend more time understanding a client’s reasoning for wanting a bigger logo.

We should be asking questions like: Will making this logo bigger have a greater impact and influence on your audience, or will it distract too much from the message? Would having more white space around the logo make it more prominent, instead of enlarging it? Should the logo be considered equally as important as the message?

There are no scientific facts (that I can find, anyway) about how big or small your logo should be in a design. But a good benchmark is seeing how the major brands handle it. In almost every case — from print ads to websites — you’ll more than likely notice that the logo is usually less than 10% of the overall design. In the ads below, their logos are less than 5% of the overall designs.

Is this because they’re so iconic that they can get away with it? No. They’ve figured out that the message of the ad holds more weight than their logo. What an over-sized logo can actually reveal about a company is a lack of brand confidence (see Figure 1b).

Fig. 1b

In other words: the bigger your logo, the lower your brand confidence. In most cases, a logo should be large enough to be readable but not overshadow the content. Your logo is not the message. Your message is the message.

In celebration up the upcoming holiday, we’ve compiled a list with instructions, on how to find some fun “Easter Eggs” hidden around the internet.

1. Try Google-ing “Find Chuck Norris” and use the “I’m Feeling Lucky” search function.

2. Log onto the Mini Cooper website. Type the word “Reverse” into the search bar, and wait for a gear shift to appear at the bottom left of your screen.

3. Change your Facebook Language setting to Pirate or Upside Down mode.

4. In Google Earth, search for the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge, Palmyra, NJ. When you zoom in close to the bridge over the river, you will see a scene from the Blues Brothers!

5. Google Sightseeing: Though not really hidden, it allows you to search around the map for select high res photos.

6. In Google search, enter the word ‘Tilt’

7. When searching for a location in Google Earth, press Ctrl+Alt+A (on PC) or Command+Alt+A (on Mac). Let the adventure begin!

8. Always wanted to know the meaning of life? In Google search bar type “answer to life, the universe and everything” and then hit search.

9. Are you a Trekkie? You can use Google in different languages, including Klingon. In the Google search type “xx-klingon” and hit the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button.

10. Type 2204355 into Google and hit, “I’m Feeling Lucky” button.

11. In the Google search bar type “do barrel roll” and see what happens!

12.Dreamed up by artists Robin Hewlett and Ben Kinsley, one Pittsburgh Street View was transformed into a visual treat. On Google Earth, search for “411 Sampsonia Way, Pittsburgh, PA” Zoom into Street Level and see if you can locate:

• A parade
• A marathon
• A garage band practice
• A giant cooked chicken
• A Bird-man
• A guy moving
• A girl escaping out of a window with a sheet ladder
• “Doug recycles”
• A “love laser”
• A person dressed as a ham
• Fireman rescuing a cat from a tree

Myrtle Beach, SC April 01, 2012

Wilmington Design Company has been delivering refreshing ideas, innovative websites and award winning design and marketing services to businesses in Southeastern North Carolina since 2003. The company is pleased to announce that it will be expanding its services into the greater Myrtle Beach South Carolina area.

The company has already had the privilege of working with clients in the low country, including businesses in the Golf and Real Estate industries just to name a few.

With more than 14 years of experience in advertising, marketing and sales, the Director of Business Development for Wilmington Design, Keith Riggs will be heading the continued development. “We are really excited about expanding into the Myrtle Beach area. We have been successfully working with a variety of companies there over the past few years, and we have found that there is a real demand for the unique range of creative services that we offer.”

Keith explains, “If you have a business in or around Myrtle Beach, SC you don’t have to limit yourself to just the web design and graphic design companies in that area. Wilmington Design Company is right up the street. We do not charge for consultations or conversations, and we appreciate the opportunity to learn about each individual business in order to provide honest feedback.”

About Wilmington Design Company:

Wilmington Design Company offers a full range of graphic design, web design, mobile and internet marketing services to businesses both large and small. The talented and knowledgeable team of graphic designers and web developers of Wilmington Design Company are focused on helping your business succeed. From small projects to full branding and marketing campaigns, they listen, design and deliver.

Read more on PR Web or you can read more on our website.