Color has a huge impact on how customers react to a product. Understanding how colors affect consumer purchasing behavior is highly important for marketers. As the following graphic (via Kissmetrics) shows, 93% of customers place visual appearance and color above other factors when shopping. Customers are persuaded by visual cues, the strongest of which is color

So how does color affect consumer behavior? Different colors are associated with different types of products and shoppers. When designing your product, packaging and logo, make sure to consider who your customers are and what colors will have the greatest influence on them.

Now that we know color is important, what about other factors that influence consumers purchases? Overall design also plays a significant role in consumer purchase decisions, particularly for online shoppers. This graphic shows that 42% of online shoppers base their opinion of a website on overall design alone and 52% said they would not return to a site if it had bad overall aesthetics.

Whether your designing a website, product, or logo, make sure you are using colors and aesthetics that speak to your target customers.

Have more questions about color? Ask us.

Cheers,
The Ruby Porter Team

Groupon has experienced tremendous growth and success in recent years. But with similar deal sites exiting the daily deal market, it is clear these sites can not sustain the amount of customers that they used to.

Recently, Facebook killed off Facebook Deals, its competitor to Groupon and other daily deal sites after just four months. Despite Facebook's 750 million users, they were unable to make their deals work. Perhaps more surprising is Yelp's withdrawal from the daily deal market. Yelp was more knowledgeable of local markets, a large asset in the daily deals market and yet still couldn't pull it off.

There are an increasing number of smaller entrants in the daily deal market posing a threat to the big players Groupon and LivingSocial. Groupon is currently working on a location based daily deal program to help them compete in what has become a very saturated market. But will it be enough to keep them afloat? Only time will tell.

What do you think? Will you keep using daily deal sites?

Cheers,
The Ruby Porter Team

Source: http://mashable.com/2011/08/30/one-too-many-daily-deals/

Typography is everywhere, and, without realizing it, it dictates to us the mood and essence of whatever we’re looking at. Much studied and loved by many graphic designers, typography is more than just the words on the page, it can tell a story. Different fonts are like the different characters, making us read differently, with different tempos, different voices, and different moods.

In this campaign from Think! Road Safety from the UK, typography is used to create two different characters and thus a whole back story. The first font looks like one that would be used in a “See Jane Run” book, while the written font looks like the hand of a child drawing with paints. The juxtaposition of the two with the severity of the message creates a compelling argument to be aware of your actions to set a good example for your children. In this example especially, we are confronted with how different fonts have a voice all their own. As you read, switching from one font to the other is like reading a text book to hearing the sound of a child’s voice. When choosing the right font for your branding or advertising, be sure to think of the voice that you want to be heard and how you can play with that to create a strong brand essence.

Cheers,
The Ruby Porter Team

Metaphors in ads. They win awards, they get the audience’s attention, and, ultimately, they get people to buy stuff. Do they ever get old? Well, they do, so be careful. Not every fancy photoshopped picture of an elephant in a tutu is going to bring them in in droves. A clever metaphor-based ad must use the product, problem, or idea that your product solves. Make sure it makes sense, and that it can be easily recognizable. The viewer isn’t going to sit there for several minutes trying to figure out deep meaning. Keep it simple.  

With that said, the Scrabble “Slices” campaign perfectly captures the product itself. The way in which the parts of the guitar are organized is even reminiscent of the Scrabble tray that holds the letters, as if it were sitting there waiting for you to organize it on the board for a triple word score. What is so captivating about this campaign is the simplicity of the image and how that communicates so strongly the brand image. It’s playful, fun, and a little weird. Also, when you’re looking at the pieces, it’s difficult to see how they might go together, such as the elephant, but you know immediately when you look at it what it is. Like any good ad, the “Slices” campaign makes you stop and look at it for a minute, because it’s both familiar and puzzling at the same time.

As advertising has increasingly moved to the Internet, Facebook advertisements are becoming a common way to reach customers. With 750 million users, many of which use the site daily, it's no wonder why advertisers see Facebook as a great way to reach customers. A recent study found significant differences in the way that different genders and age groups respond to Facebook advertisements.

Facebook Ad Stats:

• Women are 11% more likely to click on an ad
• Women (age 50+) are more likely to click on an ad where as younger women usually don’t go beyond using the ‘Like’ button
• Across all groups, women age 50+ have the highest click through rate
• Men (age 50+) are 11.7% less likely to ‘Like’ a page than their younger male counterparts

What does this mean for your business? If you have a gender neutral product or service, you will see higher success by tailoring your advertising to women since they are more likely to click. If your target market is women ages 50+ Facebook is likely a good option to explore for your advertising. However, if your target market is younger, you may want to reconsider using Facebook advertisements, and spend your advertising dollars on a medium that generates more response from these customers.

Still unsure if Facebook Ads are a good fit with your business? Ask us, we're here to help.

Cheers,
The Ruby Porter Team

Source: http://paidcontent.org/article/419

It’s easy to get carried away with flashy graphics and moving pictures, especially when it comes to website design. For some reason, the restaurant community has particularly embraced this idea, perhaps because there isn’t a whole lot of reason to stick around on a restaurant website and just look at food instead of going out and eating it. For this edition of Website Winners and Bloopers we will look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of flash animation on restaurant web design and see how it can be used well, not enough, or perhaps, to induce seizures.

For our winner we will travel across the globe to Greece, where a little restaurant called Arxontiko uses a flash animation intro to great effect. The website is simple. First, a faded moss green baroque pattern covers the background, while a single white plate appears in the center. Scraps of a frilly napkin are used for all the navigation titles, and these appear onto the page. An old crank phonograph pops up in the corner inviting you to play some appropriately old world music. The concept and presentation is simple, and yet so much is communicated. A mix of old and new, tradition and modernism, make it look true to the history of the food, but with a flair for the modern kitschy, funky trend. Animation is used, but it is subtle and not distracting or nauseating.

For our blooper, we have Soup du Jour, a website that simply doesn’t capture the mood of the restaurant. The picture of the place looks very nice, all track lighting and redish wood furniture, but the website doesn’t emulate this in any way. The background looks like stained paper, in a yellow shade, with the titles in that 1997 bright blue. There are about five different fonts, and the size of the screen is adapted for a very small computer, making it look strange aligned against the left. This website doesn’t need a big long Flash intro, but bringing in more design elements to give viewers a sense of what the food is like would greatly improve it. The kind of food this restaurant has isn’t immediately apparent, and even though it’s called “Soup du Jour,” the focus isn’t really on the soup. What the viewer is really confronted with is the giant “Click here for our kids’ menu” which appears very large above a photo of their restaurant. What is nice about using flash animation, is that it guides the viewer’s eye exactly where the designer wants it. But without animation, web designers must also think about where they want the viewer to look first, second, and so on. The kids’ menu may be important, but an introduction to the restaurant itself, like when you’re first meeting a person, would be more appropriate.

Now we’ll go to the opposite end of the spectrum, with a gyro and panini restaurant in Astoria, New York called Pita Pan. With a simple orange background, the intro asks us if we want fresh? Fast?? And then nearly blinds us with the answer: Pita Pan! With flashing white and orange backgrounds. Then it goes through what seems like the entire menu, flashing orange and white and various foods. With slightly overlapping and not-quite-centered titles, this website almost works in a quirky kind of way. But it does bring up the idea that you have to know your audience in order to decide whether or not to use flash animation or any kind of complicated intro. This place seems to serve a younger crowd, perhaps a similar target audience to Taco Bell or Carl’s Jr., but with a healthy twist. For that reason, it works. Had this website been used for either of the first two restaurants, it would have fallen flat.

So, when designing your restaurant’s website, be sure to always take into consideration who you are catering to. What is your audience like? Are they going to sit through a 30-second intro with music and flashing lights or will they get annoyed and go elsewhere? Website animation can be used to evoke a lot of moods, so don’t write it off too soon, but always be aware of your audience and your brand image and make sure your website graphics are in line with that.

Until next time,
The Ruby Porter Team

What is guerrilla marketing?
Guerrilla marketing is an unconventional way of marketing on a very low budget.

Why is it great?
Guerrilla marketing is great because it's marketing that any business with any amount of budget can do. It also has a very great chance of getting noticed by people because it's usually integrated in high traffic areas in the environment.

Examples of guerrilla marketing we love:

These four guerrilla marketing campaigns are very creative and definitely get people's attention. We think guerrilla marketing is a great way for small businesses to advertise inexpensively. Would your business ever consider this tactic? If you're not sure, we can help.

Cheers,
The Ruby Porter Team

Outdoor advertising creates an interesting situation for a designer. The space itself becomes part of the ad to create the little world being presented. Simplicity is especially celebrated in outdoor advertising, because the audience isn’t paying that much attention or searching for information or messages. While looking through a magazine, you’d expect to see a lot of ads, maybe read some headlines, because you’re curled up on the couch and paying attention to it. But outside, you’re thinking about being on time for your meeting or picking up the kids or whatever, so simplicity in copy and design are imperative to grab your attention.

With that said, this BBC ad utilizes the space to present its message and its simple copy. The layout invites the reader to engage by turning the corner to read the rest of the headline. And from a lot of angles, as the one pictured, you can see both sides, and are immediately aware of the metaphor in the physical space.

When choosing and designing your outdoor advertising, be sure to be aware of the environment in which it will be placed, because that is as important a component as the target audience or the message itself.

Cheers,
The Ruby Porter Team

Often, we are asked to donate design and other work for nonprofit organizations. We’re happy to oblige and do so when we can. However, when you’re running your own business, you might not feel like it makes sense to give something away for free. Isn’t being able to make a living the reason you are offering your services in the first place? But sometimes the best way to secure new clients and inspire goodwill for future clients is to offer free services and donate your time. This can allow you to get your work out there for potential clients to see, and it can help you build your overall network.

Building your network: Making connections in your community is priceless when you’re running a small business. You never know who you may meet or what opportunities those connections may provide in the future. Donating your work can open the door to a whole new group of people, which can in turn relate you to yet another group of people you wouldn’t have otherwise come into contact with.

The COSTCO effect: Who can resist free samples of good-smelling food while shopping? COSTCO is smart in that they know you’re not likely to buy an item in bulk without getting to try it first. But a sample allows you to get a taste before making a commitment to a huge package. Similarly, the more often hungry clients get a taste of your work, the more likely they will come back for and pay for a second helping.

Community involvement: Being genuinely involved in your community can help secure your place as a trustworthy source for information about your field of expertise. Donating your services can also help you to get to know those who could come back for other services in the future. Again, this can connect you with more people, but better than that, it can create a place for you in your community.

So, before you turn down donating your services, remember that giving back can also help generate more work for you, and a great feeling inside for being able to help others.

How much to give? Only you can answer that for your business. However, we’ve found a good rule of thumb is somewhere between five and ten percent of your overall marketing budget. Giving back should be a line item in your marketing plan right alongside advertising, giveaways, etc. If you plan for it, make room in your budget for it (regardless of what the dollar figure happens to be) and do it in ways that make sense for your business, you’ll get back far more than you ever give.

Until next time,
The Ruby Porter Team