Yes, they do have business cards you could order from the company’s back-office, but where is the fun in that. Imagine running into another sales consultant, or a potential client, handing them your business card just to see the look of disappointment as it was the same canned template design that they had picked out. Since it actually came out cheaper to get the cards made custom, I took on the responsibility of designing my wife’s business card. Here is the result :

Two lines were whited out to preserve privacy.

Whether you are a consultant for a gift merchandise company or you offer your own freelance services, having a business card is still a standard that comes across as professional and reliable. Having a well-designed and snazzy business card will get you business. Everyone should have a side business or passion that would require them to need a business calling card. What’s yours?

DESTINY IN HAND WHEN IT COMES TO SURVIVING THE RECESSION
Multiple Income Streams and Independent Wealth Trump Frugality

The current American recession is forcing most consumers to carefully guard their wallets and pinch pennies. Workers are fearful of losing their jobs and the money derived from employment, since it usually is their sole source of income. Articles on how to be more frugal are a dime a dozen, but many don’t realize that limiting expenses is only one-half of the equation to thriving in the recession. There needs to be more opportunity for income.

Easier said than done, right? Many employees in the private sector have endured salary cuts, benefit cuts and languishing investment portfolios. Where is the opportunity for income? It has become evident that Americans can no longer rely on the security of steady, long-term employment and pensions. The key to independent wealth is good, old-fashioned American entrepreneurship.

Aside from the fact that getting a hefty business loan is nearly impossible these days, starting a business does not need to be a costly venture when there are tools and resources that are readily available to market a product and/or service effectively to a large audience. Utilizing those tools effectively in creating a business identity is absolutely critical. Oddo Ink, Inc, a graphic and web design agency based in Monmouth County, New Jersey provides print and web marketing solutions for start-up companies and small businesses to enable entrepreneurs to reach their intended audience.

Oddo Ink’s President, Tom Oddo, firmly believes in fostering the American entrepreneurship that led the pioneers across the country and made America the superpower that it is today. “At some point, we lost that itch,” Oddo says, “But, it takes hard times to really show the mettle of our country. We’re going to dig ourselves out of this hole by innovating with a can-do attitude.” He took his own advice and incorporated his freelance business, building a website to show his work to prospective clients and offer several, low-cost “Marketing Packages” that involve building websites or e-mail marketing campaigns. The business helps bring in additional revenue, while helping other budding entrepreneurs do exactly the same.

With the proper marketing materials like flyers, business cards, website, and e-mail newsletters etc., even an individual business owner can approach their target market with the confidence and professionalism of a full-fledged corporation. Leveraging the internet as an informational and social tool, reaching out to potential customers has never been easier, or more cost effective. There are many freeware software products available that automate billing, order processing and payment processing, freeing time for the entrepreneur to build their business and do what is most important – make money.

And generating positive net income is ultimately the most important characteristic of a successful business. The additional income generated from a business venture may not be grandiose at first, but it may prove to be one of the most long-lasting investments that can ever be made. Besides, the potential return on starting a business is probably going to be a lot higher than the half-of-a-percent interest rate savings account.

Oddo Ink, Inc (www.oddoink.com) is a print and web design agency that serves small businesses and entrepreneurs with high-quality, budget-conscious advertising and marketing solutions.

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For additional information, or if you would like to schedule an interview, please contact Tom Oddo by e-mail at info@oddoink.com

That’s right! I’ll draw anything you can think of – actor, historic landmark, sports car, cartoon character or even your Facebook profile pic. Of course, the request has to be within reason and I have the right to refuse any subject matter that would be deemed offensive or distasteful. Once the drawing is completed, the winner is e-mailed a scan of the drawing for them to use as they please.* If the winner likes the drawing so much that they would want to purchase the original for themselves, it will be offered for $25, including domestic postage. Just to be clear, the scanned .jpg image that will be sent to the winner is 100% free, no strings attached and the purchase of the original is completely optional.

So that everyone has a fair chance of winning, the previous winners will be ineligible to win again for another 6 months. *Recipients of the drawings shall not use the illustrations for commercial use or resell for monetary gain. All copyrights are still reserved by Tom Oddo & Oddo Ink.

I hate legal stuff as much as you do. But it’s necessary. Now, go forth and “fan,” “like” or love Oddo Ink on Facebook and sign up for the drawing!

Homepage without the insert more tag

Let’s say you’ve already written a masterful review and noticed that it takes up the entire screen when someone visits your site, not good! Head back into your admin area and click on “Posts,” then the post title to go into editing mode. In the main body of text, click to move the blinking cursor to the point at which you would like the post to be “snipped.”

Move the blinking cursor

Click the “Insert More Tag” in the editing toolbar. It looks a lot like a page break that you would see in Microsoft Word. When you hover over it with your mouse, you will see the text “insert more tag” pop up next to your mouse arrow.

Once you’ve clicked the button, a thin line with a “More..” tag at the bottom right of the line shall appear. You have successfully inserted the tag! The last step is to save/update/publish your post for the changes to take effect on the site.

Update and Save

Once you’ve clicked “Update” or “Publish,” you can check your website’s homepage to see the change in your site’s look. You can always move the tag so you can allow more text / less text before the break. Just a reminder, any text before the tag is shown as a preview on your homepage. Any text after the tag is still viewable if the visitor opts to click the “read more” or “continue reading” link to view the full post.

Now, you can see in the example we looked at earlier, there is another post visible on the homepage, which was hidden in the first screenshot. You can condense your most recent posts using the tag so that small snippets or full paragraphs will be visible on the homepage. I would take the journalistic approach to selecting the break in your text. Entice the reader with grabbing copy that summarizes the topic. Leave them wanting more!

The idea was to keep a similar look to the catalog by incorporating design elements like the gray header bar, the same fonts used and similar color scheme. At the same time, you want it to look different to contrast against the catalog, as if to say, “Hey! I’m new in town! Read Me!” We selected all-new products that were released during the year and we knew would do well with our customers.

The Interior page sports a small “thank you” note and inside, as promised, is a free shipping promotion highlighted by a golden yellow. The overall style is more sleek, reflective and modern, which is a motif that is already present on the website and e-mail newsletters. We’re still working through the last batch of these. With the new catalog on the horizon in the next few months, these will have to last!

Goldspot aims to achieve the recognition as a forward thinking, customer-friendly, online pen shop. Besides shopping on the website, the 48-page catalog serves as the off-line centerpiece for sales. Below is a sample of the on-line version (hosted by ISSUU) of the catalog.

The approach is simple, clean and with a well-aligned layout. The catalog was mailed out to over 40,000 addresses in the United States and included in 10,000 shipments and counting. As it became later in the year and new product was introduced, we included a half-fold, 4-page addendum flier that refreshed our customers on the new items and specials that are being offered.

The flier keeps the same format, font choices and clean-looking appeal while adding a sleeker and more energetic look to how the products are shown.

Another piece of marketing material included in shipments is a giveaway bookmark. This was designed as a functional coupon. My wife still uses it to this day to keep her place while reading.

One of the key focus points to these designs is to show off the product. Most of the manufacturers can supply good quality product photography, and it is essential to display this to the consumer without them being distracted by a busy supporting design. In the bookmark, you see the front side features a lengthwise display of the pen and a subtle patterned gradient to make the pen “pop” from the paper.

The advertisement in Pen World also features one product that dominates the design, while keeping with the value of being a cutting-edge pen company.

Of course, with being an ecommerce site, there is a big focus on doing web graphics and enticing customers with a call to action to bring them to the website and convert them to a sale. The most effective tool for driving sales is the e-mail newsletter. Below is a screenshot and you can find the HTML version of the e-mail here.

The use of reflected images, soft gradients, clean type and well-used product photography presents the above-board value that each of the presented brands can offer the customer. This e-mail example was sent out just this past week. Traffic doubled the day we sent the e-mail and sustained very well with over +50% difference the day after. Opens, clicks and conversions were above average as well.

To promote an exclusive Goldspot pen, a series of banners were created to be used for Google AdSense image banner units on relevant websites and blogs. Again, the product takes center stage (photographed and retouched by me in this particular occasion) and the checkered flag element is used to illustrate the “Formula One” concept, while mirroring the branding on the custom packaging.

The Exclusive Formula Red packaging truly adds another layer of exclusivity to the product, as no other retailer has the product, or has ever designed alternate packaging themselves.

Note the checkered flag pattern that signifies the carbon fiber pattern on the pen barrel, while illustrating the racing theme. Red racing stripes are on the narrower sides of the box. The specially designed box gives an extra value to those who are gifting the pen or collecting. Although it is not much of a consideration online, the box also helps with the merchandising of the product when presented in a physical space alongside other items. Below is our table at the Philadelphia Pen Show, which I had organized and created the Goldspot poster for.

The left photo was taken as we were closing up for the day, but you can notice the podium set up with the large banner, complete with the company logo and the subtle logos of the brands that are available at the store. The right picture shows part of the table display, including the Formula Red exclusive pens which are raised up in the back, sitting atop their boxes.

In closing, branding takes effort to be polished and present yourself in the best light possible at every point of communication with the consumer. It is necessary to communicate your business’ unique selling proposition and values to the client or prospect with each piece of marketing collateral.

This project stems from my freelance work that I provide for Ads2Go Advertising, which specializes in coffee cup advertisements. Essentially, a business buys ad space on a cup, Ads2Go designs and manufactures the cups to be distributed in established networks of bagel shops, delis, coffee bars, etc.

The cup is for HEAT, which is a boot-camp-like class that the Atlantic Club in Red Bank, NJ offers to its members. Extra-hard core like an iron-man competition, HEAT needed a mystique and edge to it that made it seem more like a trendy night club than an exercise class.

With a name like heat and the hot liquid coffee/tea inside the cup, you really can’t go wrong with putting flames at the bottom of the cup. Try suing over hot coffee now! These cups are circulated in bagel shops and delis local to the Red Bank area.

One snowy weekend shortly after the New Year, I decided to throw my hat in the ring and come up with a neat idea for a design that pays homage to my passion for writing, journaling and fine pens. I called it “Hand-Drawn Moleskine,” which is the brand of notebook that I use to write in. It’s very popular with the creatives and wanna-be Starbucks novelists. The idea behind it was to lend an air of intimacy to the otherwise impersonal e-mail.

My design was selected as the top 8 to be voted on for a whole two weeks starting Jan 14th until the end of the month. TWO WEEKS!? The voting was done by Facebook “likes,” which meant that the person voting had to be logged into a valid Facebook account in order to have their vote cast. This is where the true hustle came in. I thought to myself, now that the contest had got to this point, that this was going to be in my hands and that I have the knowledge and skills to market myself for the maximum number of votes possible.

My one true foe was a competitor simply referred to as “Blue Burst” – the name of her template design. Voting was neck and neck for the first few days. Then, I sent out a mass e-mail to my work list of several thousand e-mail addresses and was able to pull ahead by 70 or 80 votes. My lead was pretty steady for the most part until the final weekend – the home stretch.

Despite my best efforts and the pressing of my friends and family, we came up short by a total of 18 votes, finishing at over 800 total for the two weeks. It was truly a monumental effort that I believe ultimately came down to being in an earlier time zone than my opponent. Although I finished in second, I truly felt like a winner, as I still received a nice gift card from Apple, along with heaping amounts of praise about my design. People have remarked that it was the only one that had originality, that the others looked canned and lacked the personality that my work had. Ultimately, it was up to the voting and, if it had come down to quality judged by a third party, I believe mine would have won outright.

Although I was greatly disappointed to come up short, I did receive a lot of praise and exposure, which already has earned me a commissioned artwork gig. Would I consider entering more contests in the future? Sure! But never any contest that requires me to panhandle for votes during such a long span of time.