But with hundreds of apps out there, how do you know which ones are useful? Stuart Design is here to help! Here are two apps we feel can help you organize your business and share work and other business information with your employees.

Wunderlist: This free app will help you keep track of your business and personal activities. It’s like your own mini task manager. You can create to-do lists from all areas of your life and put them into categories like “Personal,” “Shopping,” “Business,” etc. With Wunderlist you are able to create lists on the go, by simply e-mailing your task to me@wunderlist.com. You can arrange your tasks in the order they need to be done, and use a special star icon so you remember it’s a top priority.

If you are worried you will forget about something, never fear! You can set a due date for the tasks on your list and have an e-mail reminder or notification sent to your phone. If you need to send to-do lists to other employees, or need your to keep track of your own, you can also do this through Wunderlist. The app allows you to work on your lists with whomever you want. If you want to look at the progress you have made, you can print out the list or send it to your colleagues via e-mail.

This app is available for the iPhone®, iPod®, Android®, WinPhone® and Blackberry®. If you don’t have a smart phone or would prefer to look at your tasks on your desktop, you can also download it on Mac, Windows and Linux.

ConceptShare: Whether you have a small business, or are a national enterprise like Disney or Best Buy, you can find this app useful. ConceptShare, does exactly what its name says it does- it allows you to share concepts. If you are editing a video or picture for your business, sometimes it can be hard to communicate how you want something to be edited over phone or e-mail. This app allows you to proof your print, web and video material with a pointer, pen or highlighter, and mark up the image and add your own comments of the changes you want made. Your whole team can access this information and comment on what changes need to be done, and they will be notified via e-mail to join in the discussion.

Don’t worry if you have a high quality image file! This app will let you download large files quickly and easily. You can organize your work in different folders according to the different clients and businesses you have. There are different types of accounts you can get of ConceptShare, depending on the type of business you have. Whether you are a freelancer, small agency or a global organization, there is a version for you.

There are dozens of other apps out there that you can download to help your business thrive. Check out an app store, or search online and see the free and easy ways you can make running your business more organized, with just a few clicks.

1. Personalize your Business:

Be creative and show your personality through your marketing. There’s nothing that turns someone away quicker than looking at a boring ad or reading dull material. Let your personality shine through your work and give people someone and something they can relate to. If a consumer feels like they know you, they will be more comfortable and more likely to come back time and time again. Your personality is what makes you stands out from other companies, and shows people why they should buy or use your services vs. the competition’s. You can help personalize your business through a blog, e-mail marketing and social media platforms.

2. Social Media:

It’s no secret that marketing via social media networks is on the rise. People use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google + and various other sites on a daily basis. Social media is a top priority for digital marketers, according to a research published by Econsultancy. More than half of the 600 companies surveyed said that social media engagement was one of the most exciting opportunities for their business in 2012. One of the most important things about social media marketing is to keep it updated. Observe which of your social networks provides you with the most traffic, and then focus on keeping it up to date with the latest information. You can use Google Analytics to track which sites are getting the most views and see where you should focus your marketing tactics.

3. E-mail Marketing:

E-mail marketing has not disappeared; in fact it seems to be on the rise. Vertical Response, a provider of self-marketing for small businesses, released a study this month, analyzing e-mail and social marketing user data of small and mid-sized businesses. They found that companies who used both e-mail marketing and social media had a 28 percent higher open rate when they sent e-mails. Last year, e-mail marketing returned more for every dollar spent that any other marketing channel, according to the Direct Marketing Association’s Power of Direct economic impact study. The DMA said in 2011, e-mail brought in $40.56 for every dollar spent. This year it is expected to fall, but still bring in $39.40 for every $1, said the DMA. E-mails are effective because they can be used to build relationships with clients, promote sales, connect to social media networks and more.

4. Mobile:

People are using their phone to access everything, so it’s vital that your website is accessible from mobile devices. At the end of 2011, the smartphone market grew by 54.7% in the last quarter, according to the International Data Corporation. Smartphones are one of the most popular electronics in the market, according to IDC, with one out of every three mobile phones shipped being a smartphone. People always have their phones on them and you may find it effective to send texts, pictures or even video messages to promote your company. Send something short and sweet that a consumer can quickly view, such as a sale your company is having that day.

5. Real-Time:

Consumers love when you respond to their feedback in a timely manner. It makes them feel like you value their opinions and it builds a trusting relationship. Marketing goes two ways – you, the business owner, put it out there, and then the user responds. It’s important to be checking your social media networks regularly and respond to those with questions and/or concerns. This humanizes your company, and people feel like you care about them. You can use various tracking programs to see who is viewing your site at that exact moment, and from there decide when the best time is to add certain promotions or send e-mail blasts.

What’s important to remember is to not just choose one of these strategies, but to integrate them together. In your e-mails, advertise your sales and promotions and have links to your social media sites. Have your updates e-mailed, Facebooked and Tweeted to your clients. This way, you can reach your target audience on all different platforms, and whichever one your consumers most prefer.

In November of 2005, Google released a tool to help people measure the amount of page views their web sites were accumulating, called Google Analytics. According to the Google website, it helps users find out what keywords attract the most visitors to their website and how to design a page with content that holds people’s attention. But understanding all the data that accompanies web analytics reports can be difficult, so Stuart Design is here to help!

Recently, Google Analytics came up with new features that have made it easier for users to visualize their web page’s data:

• Custom Dashboards: When viewing reports, dashboards are typically the first thing the user sees. Why are they useful? They can show you what pages people click on, the web pages people aren’t viewing, key trends and more. Dashboards are used to measure things such as search optimization efforts and the content of the user’s site. The data can be viewed as either metric, pie, chart, timeline or table, and users can have up to 20 dashboards per profile. This can be helpful if you have a large company, so each department or section can have their own dashboard and data to analyze.
• Multi-Channel Funnels: This data shows the paths that a customer took through the website to get to their purchase. The reports look at the clicks and referrals from channels that led up to each transaction, up to 30 days prior. Users can view time lag and path length reports to see how long it took for a visitor to become a customer. This tool allows users to see how website referrals, searches, social network sites, e-mail newsletters, display ads and more brought people to their website. It can help users see which marketing techniques are most beneficial for their company, and what ones are not. For example, if you are using Twitter links, and e-mails to market your company, and the report shows most people are getting to your site via Twitter, you can increase your presence there, and not waste the effort sending as many e-mails.
• Google Analytics Real-Time: Users can now see what is occurring on their website as it is happening. People can use this tool to see how their social networking sites impact their web site’s traffic. Users can now see their most active pages, keywords and geographic locations, as people are viewing their website.
• Visitors Flow: Google Analytics now offers better tools for users to quickly see the amount of visitors viewing their website and how they are navigating through the web site’s pages. With the Visitors Flow they can see the journey a visitor takes through their site, and where they exit. This allows users to see what pages are most visited and what ones people exit after viewing. For example, you can see how a new promo page is attracting viewers. Or, if you have pages of your site that visitors are clicking out of after reading, you can edit the page or even delete it completely.

While these are just a few of the new tools Google Analytics now offers, it also has improved device reporting, updated mobile apps, has new site speed reports and more. No matter what your company is, it is imperative to have a website that users can easily interact with and entices visitors to frequent often. So go ahead – take a look for yourself and see just how Google Analytics can start working for you!

Within the last year, over 3 billion YouTube videos were watched by consumers per day. Today, YouTube can be accessed through its main website, mobile devices, and even television. Every minute, hundreds of videos are uploaded, downloaded and rated. Viewers can post comments, subscribe to their favorite YouTube channels and can even view video selections in 3D.

With YouTube, you lock your viewer into watching the screen. There are many decisions to think about when trying to capture the attention of your viewers. Use this YouTube opportunity to be creative. This is your chance to give viewers an inside look at who represents your company and how your company actually works. You can even provide product demonstrations or share customer testimonials about your products or services. Encourage viewers to watch your YouTube video, create conversational buzz, share and leave comments. Remember that the conversation is a two-way street. Be prepared to respond to comments, both positive and negative, to show your viewers you take interest in what they have to say. This allows you to receive real-time feedback on your newest venture and provides critiques for future planning.

Truly, the ideas you can do with YouTube are numerous. This chosen medium is a full proof way of increasing your brand awareness and brand exposure – if and only if your video is creative, unique, and worth watching. At the rate new media is developing, who knows where YouTube will be this time next year. Take advantage of YouTube and broadcast yourself, while the camera is still rolling.

Whether or not you believe in the value of QR codes, one can’t deny the growing phenomenon of smartphone and mobile device technology. According to eMarketer, smart phone ownership will reach 43% of the US mobile population by 2015. That’s nearly half of all US mobile phone users! So if QR codes actually are a legitimate form of marketing, the relationship between them and smartphones could prove to be a catalyst for these types of technological marketing tactics.

So how effective are these little things called QR codes? Well, a survey of smartphone users conducted earlier this year by MGH, a reputable marketing company based out of Baltimore, showed that 32% of respondents have scanned QR codes. In the same survey, 70% of respondents claimed that they plan to use a QR code (again or for the first time) in the future. Also, a recent report by Comscore showed that in June 2011, 14 million mobile users in the US have scanned a QR code on their mobile device. That’s 6.2% of the total mobile audience (non-smartphone users included).

But what is even more interesting is what the MGH study found out about users’ recollection of QR code advertisements. According to the study, “72% of smartphone user respondents stated that they would be likely to recall an ad with a QR code in it”. So QR codes can also be attributed to positively effecting advertising recall and retention. This could serve as a possible solution for one of the biggest issues facing advertisers today.

In addition, companies like BarCodeConnections offer in-depth analytics that track how many times your QR code has been scanned, in what geographic location, at what time, and by what type of device. This type of information can be invaluable to a business’s marketing efforts and can provide essential insight for future communication strategies.

So it would appear that QR code usage by consumers is growing proportionally with smartphone technology. QR codes are proving to be an effective way to quickly interact with consumers on their terms. Not only that, but the scanning of these codes can be easily tracked and monitored, providing companies with important analytic information. And because most QR code generators are free to use, there is inherently no risk to try. Plus, companies do not need to alter their marketing and communication objectives in order to use them. All in all, QR code scanning by consumers is growing at a staggering rate and could very well be “the next big thing” in marketing strategy.

When assessing your branding efforts, make sure to view your company from the consumer’s point of view. Position your identity in the mind of the consumer by conveying the same consistent message throughout your branding materials. Stuart Design, LLC., uncovers special characteristics about your message and uses it to create remarkable design to captivate your audience. Whether it’s through your business card or website, each will convey your message through a unique design that speaks volumes about your company. The branding selection of typography, color scheme, and composition can affect the way your audience sees and hears your message. Use this technique to describe who you are, what you do, and how your consumers can benefit from your products or services. It’s simple; basics are the foundation for marketing.

Once you have fulfilled the basics, then you can expand your branding efforts into forms of social media. Challenge yourself by joining social networking sites and maintaining your pages with relevant company information.  The more you push your branding efforts, the better chances your audience will interact with your brand.  For example, the company advertisements should direct consumers to the company website, and the website should then link to your company’s profile on Facebook. By integrating several elements of branding into your marketing plans, you will bridge the gap from basic branding into new age media. Remember if all else fails go back to the basics and try again.

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Design is knowing which ones to keep” -Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert comic strip

Now, choosing to design your website yourself can potentially do wonders in improving your company image, but it also leaves room for simple mistakes. Keep in mind, viewers respond well to websites that are visually unique as well as those that allow them to interact with the site. Websites can include something as simple as a photo gallery to something more complex such as a full-length flash introduction to the site. Site design is not about flashy bells and whistles, but it is about creating a design that makes updating your content an easy task, as well as keeping your viewers intrigued and informed. It’s up to designers to avoid the mistakes and create a site that is both functional and appealing to your audience.

In achieving a successful design, the website must possess a user-friendly format. A haphazard website will leave your viewer confused and one click away from exiting your site. The homepage is the face of your website, and you always want the face of the company to look its best. Your audience should be able to easily navigate through the content of your homepage. The homepage should be structured to guide viewers to the more significant pages of the site. Also, your content and imagery should have no problem loading quickly for viewers. Given that the majority of people also access websites via mobile devices, you should consider including a mobile compatible site as an additional option. Because really, what good is web design if your viewers can’t see it?

However, the more important factor here is that website design is a major component in establishing or even re-establishing an online presence. Consider the benefits a quality web design can do for your business. Take some time, browse through a variety of websites to see what you like and what you don’t, and collaborate with experienced designers to figure out which design works best for you!

The important question here is how beneficial is it to have a website if you have an unsearchable site? The answer is simple: it’s not, which is why Search Engine Optimization is essential to any business with a website. Two of the most powerful factors of SEO are the words that you use in search titles and key words. Search engines use both of these factors as an entry to tag your company’s site. Your search title is most likely your company brand name, while key words are select words or phrases that are found within your listing’s description. When titles and key words are tagged, your website is then listed within multiple pages of results. Most consumers don’t take the time to search through twelve pages of results, which is why it’s a common goal to appear on the first page listed. Your task is to choose short, but distinctive words to increase your page rank. It’s sort of like one of those describe-yourself-in-three-words type of moments. When looking at word choices, Stuart Design, LLC evaluates your web content and chooses words that best represent the essence of your company to set you apart from the rest. By completing a key word analysis, the word choice process looks at competitors’ sites and searches for common key words related to your business profession. Realize that different audiences use specific words including short hand type and misspellings. There are a lot of details and analytics behind search engines, which is why you should trust professionals to do the dirty work for you.

SEO not only lists your website, but it also positions your social media sites in rank as well. Search engines are feeding social sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube into basic search results. These sites act as an external back-link towards your main website. It’s important to have all of your sites integrated through multiple search engines to increase visibility from all angles. You should be fully accessible to your audience and integration is the way to do it. Now is the time to look at how your online presence stands up against your competitors and take advantage of what Search Engine Optimization has to offer.

When you speak about email marketing, there is definitely power within routine of good business habits. Good business is all about maintaining a positive image with your clients. It’s good to think of email marketing as a unique reminder to encourage repeat business as well as building client relations. When it comes to compiling a client list, permission becomes key to email marketing! Professionally, it’s your responsibility to legally build a database of current and potential clients and not fall into the pits of spam. If you don’t stand out from inbox spam, more than likely, clients will ignore and delete your email. A big advantage of email marketing lies within its audience reach. You’re able to communicate with a much larger client base at a reasonable cost. This is your chance to reach your true target audience and show them the benefits of being a subscriber.

Make it a priority to keep your clients aware of the resources your company offers.

Good business can build the relationship, but email design pushes the message. This is where client customization is key! Learning to tailor the copy to your client personalizes the email as if it were sent from a friend rather than a marketer. Keep in mind this is an email, not a three-page spread. Your message should be simple, yet creative, allowing the message to be clearly understood.  Also, be sensible in color usage, image placement, and font readability. Again, you don’t want the client to be visually distracted and miss the message of the email. It’s also within good email practice to respect the nature of the opt-out option. This places power into the client’s hands over the interactions they have with your company. Even if they decide to leave, this shows the client your company’s appreciation for the relationship. Make it a point to include an opt-out option within correspondence with clients. This is a good thing; it’s their choice to subscribe to your list, which means they willingly want to know more and want updates.

Everyone has the ability to send an email; however, professional email marketing is arranged with quality design.  At Stuart Design, LLC. we have discovered the value in email marketing, making the design firm a reputable resource to our clients. Our experts can help develop strategic email campaigns that will effectively reach your targeted audience and produce results for your business. With email marketing offering so many opportunities, don’t delay. Seek out the right professionals to help properly put the power of email marketing to your advantage!

Social media is all about consumer engagements, not impressions. Keep in mind that having 200 friends or followers does not necessarily equal success. The more you participate in a discussion with those 200 people, the more you will learn how to keep each customer and potentially gain new ones. The content of social media is utterly user-generated, which means you are on customers’ turf where they have control to say anything they want – good or bad – at any time of the day. As a company, this is your chance at gaining immediate insight to your target consumer base. However, the key to this chance lies in the design of your “social voice”, which makes you stand out from the clutter. By designing your “social voice”, you’re placing social media at your advantage.
Do Some Digging.

• Feel out which social media tools work best with your brand. There are many social sites to choose from, each offering a special trait that others may not offer.
• Get to know your audience and their language. You need to know who you are talking to and if they have a special way of expressing themselves. The conversation needs to seem authentic, unlike a sales pitch or a direct advertisement. For example, your audience may respond better to visuals rather than straight text. At Stuart Design, LLC, our experts can help you create expertly crafted styling graphics that convey your message and reach your specific target.

Design Your Voice.

• Think about what you want your consumers to know about your company and decide a clear message you want to send.
• Be consistent in your message and also with your tone. Consistency should flow through all your materials, ranging from your website and various print pieces, all the way down to social media. If your brand has a sarcastic persona, then consumers should be able to tell that by your “social voice.” For one example, check out how Stuart Design, LLC chooses to utilize its “social voice” at its best via Facebook, Twitter, and a customized YouTube channel.
• Visually show your consumers what you do and how well you do it. Find the value in sharing your portfolio, ideas, and opinions. Also think about the structure of your content; this is very important. Consumers need to be able to easily navigate through your page and find what they are looking for within a matter of seconds.

Develop Relationships.

• Set up a calendar to frequently maintain your social media sites. Update your content and keep your information relevant to your brand as well as to your consumer.
• Create communication and response. Decide how involved you want your consumers to be with your company. For example, can they ask questions or offer input, are there tutorials, etc. The design of your page also helps you decide how interactive you want your consumer to be with your company.

Remember social media is more than just gaining a friend or a follower; it’s about having a voice for your brand online. Once you realize how significant social media can be to your company, design your voice and I’ll follow!