Source: BrooksBrothers.com

Brooks Brothers’ distinct yacht/country club preppy feel is consistent across their store displays, website, and social media profiles. (The store display photos shown below were taken at the Madison Avenue flagship store.)

Boating & Yachting Themed Store Displays

Store Displays

Website & Social Media

The post Brand Case Study: Brooks Brothers appeared first on Natasha N. McEachron Portfolio.

Have You Done Any Market Research?

Having a good understanding of your target market goes a long way towards communicating with them effectively. You should at least gather enough research to have a basic idea of who your potential customers are so you can use that information to create a profile. For business to business (B2B) companies, a profile might include industry, company size, revenue, etc. For business to consumer (B2C) companies, a profile might include age, gender, household income, values, etc.

In addition to knowing who your customers are, it’s equally important to know how they feel about your industry and if possible your specific company and its products / services. Research your competitors and how they present themselves, the features of their products, the services they offer, etc. and think about how you might be able to differentiate your company.

What Are Your Goals?

Designs should be aesthetically pleasing and accomplish some kind of goal. I’ll be honest with you, starting a design project without goals and some kind of strategy to achieve them is an inefficient use of money. You should know the goals of your project as they will determine the metrics that you use to gauge the success of the project. Think about how you can align your goals with the message you’d like to communicate, the people with whom you’d like to communicate, and their reasons for caring.

Does Your Budget Match Your Expectations?

An analogy that is often used when discussing design project pricing is searching for a house or apartment to rent / buy. Your budget is directly correlated to potential locations, square footage, amenities, etc. If you live in NYC and can only afford $500 per month for shelter, you can forget about a house and you’re going to make some compromises for an apartment. However, with $50,000 you’d have a lot more options.

Have you thought about how much you can actually afford to comfortably spend? Based on your budget, is your list of needs and wants a realistic set of specs or a wish list? If your current budget isn’t enough to cover your list of ideas, consider splitting the project into smaller parts and prioritizing the order in which they should be completed.

Is This The Right Time?

Completing a design project at the expense of neglecting other tasks / responsibilities that should be a higher priority is not a good idea. You should be absolutely certain that you can comfortably afford the investment of time and money required by the project. A wonderfully executed design project won’t be of much use if you go out of business before seeing any returns. By the same token if its your busy season or you’re dealing with other issues that are more pressing you should put off the design project until you’re able to devote the necessary amount of time needed to make the project successful.

The post 4 Things to Consider Before Beginning a Design Project appeared first on Natasha N. McEachron Portfolio.

LinkedIn

I like LinkedIn and think its one of the best, if not the best social network. I have no desire to share the details of my day-to-day life (it’s not that interesting) or to read about the personal details of other people’s lives so I appreciate that LinkedIn users discuss that stuff elsewhere. Not to mention that I prefer networks/websites where you can learn about things. I’ve also had a few people contact me about projects, jobs, etc. so I definitely think it’s worth the time investment.

Facebook & Twitter

I tend to lump Facebook and Twitter into the same category as being time wasters for users. They’re great for some companies but I don’t think that when people visit those networks they are in the right frame of mind for being interested in my services/products. Another issue is that it takes no real effort to like or follow someone so a brand might have a large number of fans but that audience might mainly consist of window shoppers who have no intention of ever making a purchase or are just looking for freebies. In addition, from a usability standpoint there is a lot of noise and clutter, especially on Twitter. (I’m actually toying with the idea of leaving my business pages/profiles inactive for a while so I can devote more time to LinkedIn and other networks.)

I’m biased because I don’t see why people find them so interesting (I felt the same way about MySpace). That being said, there are positives for both networks. For example, my hard drive crashed last week and Dell’s regular customer support was helpful but annoying because they kept trying to sell me services while I really just wanted to get my computer fixed. However, I reached out to their customer support via Twitter and the person that replied was excellent and helped me to troubleshoot and then find the drivers that I needed after l replaced the hard drive. Maybe Twitter isn’t that great for lead generation (depending on the company) but it could be great for keeping in touch with clients and answering quick questions.

Pinterest

Pinterest is on the short list of social networks that I use for business but also personally like (the others being YouTube, Quora, and of course LinkedIn). People can certainly browse the network without ever purchasing anything but I do like that it offers the option for tagging items with prices and being able to have pins click through directly to a page where the item can be purchased. I also like that while comments are allowed, people typically don’t write titanagraphs about their life story or constant updates about their day.

Google Plus

I honestly haven’t spent as much time on Google Plus (G+) as I have the other networks but plan to in the near future. I have an interest in graphic design and photography and find connecting with other designers/photographers and viewing their work to be very motivating. There aren’t as many people or as much activity compared to some of the networks but that’s not necessarily a bad thing because so far there is not a lot of noise or clutter. The biggest advantage for being active on G+ is that it’s tied into Google search and anything that can potentially offer a boost to SEO/SEM is always welcome.

The post My Views on Social Media Networks appeared first on Natasha N. McEachron Portfolio.

Tip #1
A lot of the articles/links that I share on social networks are from other blogs/websites. To save time, I subscribe to RSS feeds through Google Reader so new posts are gathered in one place instead of me having to visit individual websites to check for updates.

Whenever I have time I check Reader, leave relevant comments on articles/posts that I find interesting (which is great for driving traffic), and save links to an Excel file that I have set up. When I’ve gathered a sufficient amount of links, I configure the dates and times that the links should be posted, which social media accounts they should be posted to, and then bulk upload the links to HootSuite. The links are shared on schedule so from there all I have to do is reply to comments. Once a week HootSuite sends me an analytics report that allows me to see which links generated clicks and on which networks.

Tip #2
I’m a visual person so at times it can be a bit like pulling teeth for me to sit down and write the text for a blog post. To get around that mental block, I jot down notes for blog ideas as soon as they pop into my head. I then pick a day and time where I’ll do nothing but write blog posts. Typically by the time I complete one or two posts, the writing begins to flow easily and I can write and schedule about one or two months’ worth of blog posts. Once the posts are scheduled, all I have to do is check to make sure that they are being published by WordPress and indexed by the search engines, share the blog post links via my social media profiles, and reply to comments.

Tip #3
Earlier this year I began sending out a monthly newsletter which includes summaries of my blog posts with links to the full versions. I use MailChimp to manage my subscription lists and campaigns but designed my own custom template. Once a month I would make a copy of the template, update the content, send myself a few test emails, and then schedule the newsletter’s distribution date. That was a good option but it still required about one or two hours per month.

A few months ago I found MailChimp’s RSS-driven campaign option where it pulls in your blog’s RSS feed, automatically creates a newsletter, and delivers the newsletter according to a time frame that you set. I spent a few hours designing a new template but now I only have to spend about five minutes per month a few days before the newsletter goes out, double-checking that everything is ok. The only draw back is that I haven’t figured out a way to automatically include the featured image from blog posts in the newsletter but that’s not a big deal.

Tip #4
Whenever possible I re-purpose and expand my comments from other blogs/articles, answers to questions, etc for posts on my blog. Case in point, this blog post was originally a response to a comment on a link that I shared on LinkedIn.

The post 4 Social Media Marketing Efficiency Tips & Examples appeared first on Natasha N. McEachron Portfolio.

I spent some time considering names for the new website but “Schweet” stuck in my mind. However, I thought that schweet on its own would be too generic so the name would need two parts. I thought about my favorite photography subjects (food, travel, cars, and architecture/interiors) and upon realizing that they’re all lifestyle items decided the second word would be “Life”.

Once planning was completed (business plan, marketing plan, brand strategy, and social media strategy) the design and development work began. The project was divided into three phases: logo design, website design, and social media profile development.

Logo Design

I felt that the name “Schweet Life” was interesting and would readily lend itself to being a wordmark. I began the logo design phase by sketching the way I saw the feeling of the word in my mind (hopefully that makes sense). I thought it should be classy but not pretentious and interesting but not jarring. I got the feel of the “S” correct early in the process but had to play around with the other letters and the layout for while.

Schweet Life Logo Design Sketch 1

Schweet Life Logo Design Sketch 2

Schweet Life Logo Design Sketch 3

Schweet Life Logo Design Sketch 4

I finally settled on a hand-drawn “S”, a toned down capital “L” in Lavanderia Sturdy, and lower case Century Gothic for the other letters. The lower case dot of the Century Gothic “i” looked very out of place so I used an argyle-style diamond shape composed of two crossed “I’s” that I had created while exploring another concept. I chose a color palette of blues and neutral tans that could be used for different applications.

Schweet Life Logo Design Live Trace

Schweet Life Customized "L"

Schweet Life Logo Color

I ended up preferring the simplicity of the black and white versions of the logo so the colored versions were scrapped.

Schweet Life Logo Black and White

Website Design

The Schweet Life website borrows a lot of its elements from the NNMPortfolio website. However, to improve the user experience the search bar was integrated into the header, a simplified sidebar appears on the right, and a more prominent newsletter signup box appears on all pages.

The vast majority of the NNMPortfolio traffic is from desktop users so I originally planned to design a regular custom WordPress template. However, given that its expected that mobile use will increase I decided to kill two birds with one stone by building a responsive website that would automatically adjust to different devices in the event that there is an increase in mobile traffic. There are a few image scaling issues that still need to be fixed but you can experience the website’s responsiveness by visiting the Schweet Life website from your smartphone, tablet, and/or desktop computer.

Schweet Life Website Homepage Wireframe

Schweet Life Blog Wireframe

Schweet Life Website

Schweet Life Website Blog

Social Media Profiles

Its almost a requirement that you have some form of presence on social networks so I knew that I would also need to setup social media profiles. I created customized Twitter and Facebook profile pages which feature photos from my photography portfolio. I’m still debating whether or not I actually need a LinkedIn Company Page or Google Plus Brand Page.

Schweet Life Twitter Profile

Schweet Life Facebook Page

*Update & Disclosure: I recently attended Microsoft and Google webinars and received coupons to advertise on their networks. I understand the basics of Google Adwords but am not by any definition a search engine marketing (SEM) expert.*

Banner Ads

In addition to experimenting with text ads for adCenter and Adwords, I decided to create a few image ads for the Google Display Network. I designed the ads to be very simple and largely image based as I am beginning with a campaign where Google will choose the placements so the ads need to be able to fit into the design of a variety of websites.

Scwheet Life Leaderboard & Banner Ads

Scwheet Life Square & Rectangle Ads

Scwheet Life Skyscraper Ads

The post New Work: Schweet Life Brand Identity appeared first on Natasha N. McEachron Portfolio.

The Zen of Social Media Marketing Cover

Social media marketing is increasingly becoming my primary method for promoting my company. I am active on a few social media networks and have been for a few years now. However, I consider myself to be an advanced newbie so I’m always on the lookout for new resources (books, blogs, etc.) that offer tips and advice. A few months back I heard about Shama Hyder Kabani’s book: “The Zen of Social Media Marketing” (2010) and decided to check it out.

Kudos

1. The book covers the basic fundamentals of social media so newer users can get off to a good start while violating as few etiquette rules as possible.
2. Just about every chapter of the book follows a pattern of theory > explanations of features > best practices > brief examples > recap. By the time I finished a chapter, I would have a better understanding of the topic that was discussed and at least a few basic ideas for how I could utilize what I learned.
3. I think I learned at least one thing from each chapter of the book. However, I learned and got the most ideas from the chapter about video. The information about the reality of video sharing websites really drove home the point of using your website as the home base/central hub for all online marketing efforts. I had previously read about and experimented with video podcasting but the book offered some great new insights for how videos could be used to increase a website’s audience and improve search engine rankings.

Minor Complaints

1. Given that the internet and social media change very quickly, some of the audience sizes, features, etc. provided were outdated. However, that’s not the fault of the author. Any book that discusses the internet or social media would contain at least a bit of outdated content within a year or two of printing.
2. The book cover states that there are continuous online updates and within the book there is mention of a companion workbook that’s available online but I couldn’t find them. However, its possible that they were available at some point but were later removed.
3. I agree with the recommendation of using a program to simultaneously update the status of all of your social media profiles (Ping.fm is specifically recommended but I use Hootsuite). However, the book included commentary from a business owner who recommended registering for all of the available social networks on Ping.fm and I completely disagree with that idea. It’s one thing to claim usernames to prevent others from using those names and leaving the profile dormant/private but if you start updating the profiles you should be prepared to interact with the people who might contact you. Following the provided example, what was intended to be a time saver could turn into an enormous time drain.
4. Its been argued that email marketing (while old school for the internet) is still one of the most effective online social marketing tools so its a bit disappointing that its mentioned but not covered in any detail.

Wrap-up

The Zen of Social Media Marketing is a great book for anyone who uses social media to market and promote their business. I would especially recommend this book for small business owners who don’t have a lot of time or the marketing budgets of large companies.

Note
This review is based on the 2010 edition of the book. A new edition (“The Zen of Social Media Marketing” [2012]) was recently released featuring updated content, expanded chapters, and coverage of a few new social networks. While the basics are still valid, I’d suggest that you skip the 2010 version and getting the 2012 edition instead. I plan to read at least the chapters about the specific networks in the 2012 edition at a later date and will update this post at that time.

The post Book Review: The Zen of Social Media Marketing (2010 Edition) appeared first on Natasha N. McEachron Portfolio.

I’ve scaled back my attendance of local networking events quite a bit but I still consistently attend a few select events.

Resources for Finding Events

These are websites that allow individuals or companies to organize and/or promote events.

Crain’s New York Events

Crain’s is a business paper which publishes editions for a few cities in the United States. I subscribe to the Crain’s New York Events RSS feed to find out about business events being held around the city. It’s especially great for finding out about upcoming workshops and seminars being held at the New York Public Library. One draw back is that some of the events appear in the RSS very close to the date of the event. However, I’m not sure if that’s Crain’s doing or the event organizers.

Eventbrite

I would describe Eventbrite as being the Ticktmaster of small/local events. You have the option of subscribing to the RSS feed for specific categories, cities, event hosts, etc. and/or signing up for a monthly email about events that match your interests. There are several categories for business related events so depending on your location it chould be fairly easy to have a steady stream of networking events to attend.

LinkedIn Events

You’re active on LinkedIn, right? (If not, I won’t judge you. Visit the LinkedIn website to learn about the network.) To find the events page on LinkedIn while logged into your account, scroll over “More” on the navigation menu and click “Events”. The search options leave a bit to be desired but you can search by keyword and filter by location and industry.

Meetup

Meetup allows organizers to create a group based on an interest, topic, purpose, etc and organize events for the group’s members. I haven’t looked into any other cities but there are a lot of business/networking groups within New York City. However, I’ll be honest and state that I do not like Meetup for standard business/networking events.

Some Meetup groups tend to have a recurring issue of people registering but not showing up for events (not a big deal, life happens) but in some cases this includes to the organizers. For example, I was once a part of a group where the organizer planned two events at locations that were a bit out of the way, didn’t show up for either, didn’t properly cancel the event, and then left the group when members complained. After these experiences I now only join business and networking groups and attend events that are decidedly social so I can still have a good time even if the networking is a bust.

Regularly Scheduled Events

The list below includes events that occur on a regular basis. I’ve personally attended at least one of each organization’s events.

Freelancer’s Union Monthly Member Meeting

Who: Members of the Freelancers Union.
What: The first 30 minutes or so of each meeting are dedicated to updates about the organization’s activism efforts on the behalf of freelancers and also specific items related to member meetings. At some meetings there is an exercise which allows members to develop ideas to improve their freelancing business while also getting to know other members. At other meetings there are guest speakers who provide tips and information tailored specifically for freelancers.
Where: The offices of Freelancers Union located at 20 Jay Street, Suite 700, Brooklyn, NY 11201
When: 6:30PM to 8:30PM. Typically the second or third week of each month on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.

Manhattan Chamber of Commerce (MCC)

Who: Entrepreneurs and professionals in the New York City metro area.
What: One of the two Chambers of Commerce based in Manhattan. MCC hosts its own events, seminars, etc. but also partners with and promotes events held by other organizations. In addition, MCC has seven committees and two groups which host their own meetings and events.
Where: Varies by event.
When: Varies by event.
Notes: Events vary by type, time of day, focus, etc. You don’t have to be a member to attend most events but events tend be free or discounted for members. If you register for membership you’ll receive a lot of emails about upcoming events, press opportunities, etc. I emphasize a lot because they are very frequent and at times repetitious. I haven’t looked into it as yet but it would be very useful if there was an option to specify the types and frequency of emails you’d like to receive.

MCC Young Professionals Committee

Who: One of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce’s committees (see above). This group is geared towards young professionals and entrepreneurs age 21 to 35 but older members are allowed to attend events.
What: At least once per quarter there is an after work networking mixer. Membership meetings take place about once per month and primarily focus on planning upcoming events and sharing updates about the committee.
Where: Varies by event.
When: Varies by event.
Notes: I haven’t fully explored all of the main Chamber’s events or all of the committees. However, I prefer the MCC Young Professionals events out of all of the Chamber’s events that I have attended. Events tend to start after normal business hours, they are fairly relaxed, and you’re not bombarded with emails.

NYCwomen.connect at Hodgson Russ

Who: Female entrepreneurs but men are allowed to attend. Presenters and attendees are from various industries but registrations from individuals or companies that offer competitive services are not accepted.
What: The event is split between networking and presentations (one well-experienced startup entrepreneur as the keynote speaker and three other entrepreneurs at various stages of the startup process).
Where: The offices of Hodgson Russ located at 1540 Broadway, 24th Floor, New York, NY 10036.
When: About every two months on a Thursday from 5PM to 9PM.

Women 2.0 Founder Friday

Who: Female entrepreneurs but men are allowed to attend.
What: At each event two founders from different companies speak for about 5 to 10 minutes each, the rest of the event consists of networking.
Where: Various cities around the world. The New York City event is held at the office of Makovsky + Company which is located at 16 East 34th Street, New York, NY 10016.
When: The first Friday of each month from 6PM to 9PM.
Notes: Tickets for the New York City event tend to go very quickly so you should register as far in advance as possible.

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I hadn’t visited Coney Island since junior high school but a few summers back one of my photography groups made plans to visit Coney Island to take pictures at the annual Mermaid Parade. Although, I was born and raised in Brooklyn I’d never heard of the Mermaid Parade but I was told that that there was a car show and decided to tag along.

My mission for the day was to eat a candy apple or cotton candy and have a good time taking pictures. I ended up passing on the candy apple because upon actually seeing one again I remembered how the candy would soften and get stuck in your teeth. However, I did enjoy another childhood favorite: “Peachies” and spent time munching on them in between photos.

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I had a cheesesteak for lunch (with half left over for a midnight snack when I returned home) and a hot bowl of Vietnamese Pho for dinner that was very welcome after an unexpectedly chilly day. Unfortunately, I don’t have photos of the stuff that I personally ate (I don’t like touching my camera while I’m eating) but I did take a few pictures of food items that I saw over the course of the day.

"Broken Hearts Ice Cream Sundae" at The Franklin Fountain

Hoagies at Reading Terminal Market

People on line at Jim's Steaks on South Street

Philadelphia Seaport

After fortifying ourselves with cheesesteaks we walked down to the Philadelphia Seaport and snapped photos of the boats that were docked along the waterfront. In addition to the Independence Seaport Museum ships there were also a few party / event boats and an interesting condominium building.

"Moshulu"

"Olympia" & "Becuna"

"Philadelphia Belle"

"Philadelphia Belle" Paddle Wheel

Landmarks & Monuments

According to one of my group member’s mapping app, during the day that we spent in Philadelphia we walked about 10 miles. We primarily stuck to the center, walked east and then back west to ensure that we saw most if not all of the city’s landmarks and monuments.

Independence Visitor Center

The line to view The Liberty Bell can get very long, (understandably) visitors are kept back some distance, and there isn’t much else to see in the building. You can avoid the hassle by viewing the bell from the large windows at the side and rear of the building.

The Liberty Bell

Philadelphia City Hall

Philadelphia Masonic Temple

Logan Square Fountain

View from the Steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

"The Love Sculpture" by Robert Indiana

The post Philadelphia “The City of Brotherly Love” appeared first on Natasha N. McEachron Portfolio.

BMW

I see front ends as being an ID for identifying the make and model of a car, its essentially a car’s face. I love BMW and the M Series are at the top of my list of favorite cars. I like that while BMW has made updates over the years to the front end, the changes have been gradual and allowed the M Series to maintain some consistency.

BMW M5

BMW M6 Convertible

The new BMW i8 Concept carries on the design tradition of BMW. To be honest I hated the car when I saw it online before the show but its kind of cute in person. However, as with many of the futuristic concept cars that have been showcased in recent years it’s plasticky appearance makes the car look a bit cheap.

BMW i8 Concept

Mercedes & McLaren

The Mercedes Benz SL65 AMG was one of the cars to debut at the NY Auto Show. The car is an exclusive special edition marking the 45th anniversary of the model. Only 45 units will be made.

Mercedes Benz SL65 AMG (Front)

Mercedes Benz SL65 AMG (Side)

Mercedes Benz SL65 AMG (Rear)

I think we’ve become accustomed to seeing cars with high gloss / candy paint but a few models at the car show were presented with what appeared to be a matte paint finish. It looked good on the Mercedes-Benz CLS but because of its interesting appearance people ran their hands over the car when they walked by. This paint option probably wouldn’t be a good idea if the car will be regularly parked on the street or in public places.

Mercedes Benz CLS

I didn’t like the front end of the McLaren but the rear end was a bit more interesting.

McLaren MP4-12C (Front)

McLaren MP4 12C (Rear)

Bentley & Rolls Royce

Bentleys are cool to look at but what really caught my eye was the hood ornament of the new Bentley Mulsanne. The traditional Bentley hood ornament is laid flat on the car and comprised of a chunky “B” in a circle with wings on both sides. The Mulsanne’s hood ornament is 3D and features a slimmed down “B” with a single wing extended from the stem of the “B”. It’s fresh and very nice but the “B” looks backwards if you’re standing on the left side of the car. A solution could be turning the emblem around so the “B” looks proper when standing in front of the car. I would probably also shift the wings to the right side of the “B” so it looks like it’s flying instead on being carried by the wings.

Bentley Mulsanne Hood Ornament

Bentley Mulsanne

Bentley Continental GTC V8

I saw the Rolls Royce Phantom at last year’s car show but didn’t notice that its a HUGE car. I had to back up quite a bit to fit it all in the frame.

Rolls Royce Phantom

SRT Viper

The Chrysler Group is re-introducing the Viper as a part of its SRT line of high-performance vehicles. The SRT Viper will be the street-legal production version and the SRT Viper GTS-R (way too many letters) will be the competitive racing version.

SRT Viper (Front)

SRT Viper (Side)

Viper GTS R

Honorable Mentions

Everything you need to know about the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport: it goes fast (top speed of 253 MPH) and its expensive ($1.9 Million USD).

Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport

I noticed Spyker for the first time at last year’s car show when they presented the Spyker C8 Aileron. I didn’t see an information sheet at the car show so unfortunately I don’t know much about the manufacturer or the car. The C8 SWB has an old school classy appearance, it reminds me a bit of a Jaguar but I can’t think of the exact model.

Spyker C8 SWB

Fisker is a new car manufacturer that makes electric luxury vehicles. Let’s be honest, electric vehicles tend to be ugly as sin but Fisker’s cars are actually attractive. However, “Fisker” doesn’t sound like a name for a cool car company (it sounds more like they make cat food).

Fisker Atlantic

Formula 1 Car with Sponsors

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