Source: designmodo.com via Masha on Pinterest
Have You Thought About Doing A Daily Deal ?
August 17th, 2012 by GrafikaVision
Daily deal sites like Groupon, Living Social, Social Shopper, Deal Canada, etc. and etc. – they are big and small, they can give you a healthy customer base or they can shatter your business in pieces leaving you crawling in exhaustion. To be or not to be… Rhetorical question? How to win from running your business on 70% off deal steroids injected in your business blood stream?
- Ensure that all of your branding touchpoints are in place to maximize all of your efforts and justify the sacrifice of discounting your services. When your new clients come through the doors your business must make the best first impression possible. Review your signage, sandwich boards, logo, brochures, business card, website, general cleanness, etc. – refer to this brand touchpoints article. There is no second chance! Most clients are coming to your business only because of the daily deal discount – its now up to you to keep most of the fish in the net.
- Think ahead about the best way for your clients to redeem the coupon.
- Be sure you don’t discount the service that costs more than you anticipated. It is a common mistake among many deal first timers. Don’t rob your business and don’t rush with the deal until your absolutely sure you can deliver what you promised at no significant cost to your business.
- Don’t sign the daily deal until you read the terms thoroughly. Some contracts have a clause outlining that if you need to cancel for whatever reason – you will have to pay the fine. Also carefully review the return policy and expiration date policy.
- Negotiate your commission. Yes, it is possible. The deal market is becoming competitive so some deal providers will give you a better commission to keep you.
- What data do you want to get from your clients? (email, phone number, address, b-day, wedding anniversary, facebook?)
- What is your follow -up strategy? (This is a huge one!) It is amazing how many businesses don’t take this very important aspect into the account. I would suggest any business running a Deal to spend at least 50% of all efforts on creating an excellent follow up strategy.
- It is important to note that if you decide to run the Deal don’t expect much monetary compensation. The commission you received as a service provider will probably barely cover all the expenses required to provide the service. Look at it as a marketing expense to gain new leads and customers.
Are you still thinking to deal or not to deal? In my next post I will share a few success stories and what these businesses did to gain recurring sales.
The Power of Color
February 27th, 2012 by GrafikaVision
As long as I can remember I used the power of color to memorize and link things. As a school student I matched my binder with the color of my textbooks and in University I had a system of different color highlights and sticky notes corresponding to the projects. Red meant importance and urgency, Orange – attention, Yellow – “worthwhile noting”. I liked to use green and blue in creative research and mind-mapping. In my art practice I push the color limits to the extreme and practice color without borders. When it comes to my own business – color is my brand identity, a key element in my dress code. Even my suitcase has color … and it is red, of course.
Sometimes we take color for granted and only subconsciously notice that certain things appeal to us more than others. Color is everywhere. Those of us who run their own businesses understand that “color sells, and the *right* color sells even better” (Color
Marketing Group)
Colors in design elements create links and associations in people minds about your product or service – that helps your target market to find you. These associations are divided into natural associations and cultural associations. “Natural associations” bring to mind certain ideas that everyone understands. For example, green is associated with plants, blue with sky, yellow with the sun, etc. Cultural color associations are not so straightforward. I had a Dutch client determined to use orange and black in his website because according to him orange represented important things about his Dutch heritage. However, the orange and black brought out very close associations with Halloween. Since his market was primary targeted to North America I convinced the client to use a different color combination that would rather speak about the values of his company.
The more colors you use in your branding the more chaotic, confusing and complex it may become. It’s recommended to use up to 3 colors in your logo only. However the brand colors may include the gradation of various combination that can be used on your website, brochures and any other promotional media. Here are some curious facts about color taken from various marketing studies:
- Color increases brand recognition by up to 80 percent.
- Color improves readership as much as 40 percent.
- Color accelerates learning from 55 to 78 percent.
- Color increases comprehension by 73 percent.
- Color ads are read up to 42 percent more than similar ads in black and white.
- Color can be up to 85 percent of the reason people decide to buy.
So, what’s your brand color?
To get more info on color, try this article: “10 reasons to use color”
http://understandinggraphics.
Networking in the eTechnology Age
October 30th, 2010 by GrafikaVision
By Pamela Chatry
Managing Director, eWomen Network Vancouver Metro and Coquitlam
Original source: Time Finders Magazine
Linked in, Facebook, Twitter. These social networking sites are familiar to most people. But did you know that there is a hugely successful online social marketing site that connected women long before Facebook and is still expanding to this day? Ten years ago a dynamic woman named Sandra Yancey from Dallas, Texas had an exciting business idea. She created the very first online community for professional and business women. The website was named www.ewomennetwork.com and as its vision stated; it wouldbecome ‘the #1 resource for connecting and promoting women in North America’.
Well, Sandra quickly realized that she was truly ahead of the trend. In 1991 the Internet was still a baby, and people didn’t really understand what the value of this amazing site meant to the average business. Sandra went back to her business plan and clearly identified a missing piece: women don’t always like working in a vacuum. They need to build relationships face-to-face. They need to see one another, laugh together and support one another. Hence, the local chapters of eWomen Network were born and in-person networking events were created to compliment the online community. Today there are over 90 chapters throughout North America.
So how did this networking group outlive so many others? eWomen Network constantly evaluates and identifies what women need for success, and then finds opportunities to provide it. There is now a publishing alliance, a radio show, a keynote speakers’ bureau, educational telecalls, free coaching services and a huge annual conference. The list goes on and on.
Sandra Yancey also saw the need to give back to women and children. She created a separate non-profit eWomen Network Foundation that gives thousands of dollars in grants and awards to communities across North America every year.
So on a local scale, members can take advantage of the multiple networking meetings, follow-up with the women they meet, and build quality alliances. However, eWomen Network members have access to so much more than local networking. A membership in a local chapter automatically guarantees a member-at-large status. What does this mean? Women can travel to any other city with a eWomen Network Chapter, and be introduced to another established community of professional women.
Membership also means becoming part of a vast database of women. The website is the most visited businesswomen’s network on the Internet today! Each member is given a landing page that can be personalized and search engine optimized. The website averages more than 300,000 hits daily and eProfiles can link to members’ own websites.
Sandra Yancey, eTechology pioneer, has created a new way of doing business where the commute is short, marketing and promotional opportunities are many, and new relationships are for life.
About Avora Skin Spa
October 22nd, 2010 by GrafikaVision
Let me introduce my new venture which is just has been opened in Coquitlam in a few steps from Coquitlam Centre!
Please meet Avora Skin Spa – full service Day Spa offering individualized, effective skin care and friendliness with the very latest in non-invasive Skin Rejuvenation and Hi-Tech Body Contouring and Anti-Cellulite Therapies.
Beauty with Results. That’s the philosophy behind Avora Skin Spa. Avora Skin Spa employs a unique approach to treating and maintaining healthy skin. Our treatments are at the forefront of latest non-invasive technologies for skin rejuvenation and body contouring (LED light, “Needle-free” Meso-Esthetic, RF skin sculpturing and tightening, Advanced crystal-free Microdermabrasion) that are customized for individual skin needs thus offering proven results.
Avora’s WAVE 6 Hi-Tech Body Contouring treatment combines 5 unique non-invasive and safe technologies in a single session! Photo-pneumatic massage, ultrasonic lipolysis, Collagen remodeling with bi-polar radio frequency and unique Meso-Esthetic “needle free” product delivery were carefully selected to address the different stages of cellulite. Truly spectacular results can be achieved when these technologies are combined. Fewer treatments, longer lasting results and overall client satisfaction are ensured. Avora Skin Spa is proud to be one of the first to introduce it for Greater Vancouver.
Specially designed Avora’s Body programs (Cellu Stop, Perfect Curves, Detox &Drain) are ideal combinations of massages, body wraps with effectiveness of Wave 6 Hi-tech Body Contouring and meet the needs of unique body wishes. Imperium – a novelty from Avora Skin Spa – it’s a revolutionary treatment from Italy that combines uniquely gentle, non-invasive and the most effective crystal-free microdermabrasion, deep products penetration, RF skin tightening and sculpturing, precise non-invasive wrinkle filling.
Only few treatments, carried out periodically, can ensure stable and durable results in a long term, even up to two years.
Avora’s holistic services are the refine collection of rituals and modalities from around the World – Austrian Alps, Mediterranean, Morocco, Africa, and India. Just enjoy our Massage Voyages offering a deeply restoring experience for the body and soul as one enjoys a mystical journey to the land of red sand and turquoise sea.
Olga comes from the family of the passionate business owners specializing in Dental Clinics and Laboratories. She successfully launched and has operated her first Spa & Skin Care Centre since 1998 in Minsk, Belarus. Olga now is taking on a new challenge by launching Avora Skin Spa in the heart of Coquitlam Town Centre.
Looking forward seeing you soon,
Olga Goroupitch
Avora Skin Spa
www.avoraskinspa.com
info@avoraskinspa.com
138-1153 The High St. ( at Levo)
Coquitlam, BC
Interview with Mortgage Terminator
October 15th, 2010 by GrafikaVision
1. Please tell us about your business. What is your product or service?
1. Mortgage Broker – Specializing in structuring legal lowest payment mortgages: As of Sept 14, 2010 – $420,000 Mortgage – Minimum Payment $840/month
2. Real Estate Investor – Optimizing cash flow properties in Winnipeg and Vancouver(they are not supposed to exist 
)
3. Mortgage Terminator – Can optimize a persons overall financial position to terminate a mortgage. I use an ipad to explain it. I can’t put it online as it would be copied.
2. What motivated you to start the business?
I put myself under an extensive amount of pressure in 2007/2008. Under that pressure, at a starbucks, in January 2008, I invented Mortgage Terminator. Full story here: http://mymortgageterminator.ca/how-i-got-into-mortgages/
3. What is unique about your business?
I have an ipad power point presentation that takes a 35 year mortgage down to 12.9 years without increases monthly expenses.
I have a background in life insurance, mutual funds, mortgages and investment real estate. All 4 combined make for some interesting perspectives.
4. Who is your ideal client?
1. A traditional family that has the following problem: http://mymortgageterminator.ca/why-most-canadians-are-slaves/
2. Any person with a mortgage
3. Real Estate Investor
5. Could you share with us some business wisdom? Any advice?
I found my genius when I was put into a do or die situation. My entire business as of today was founded in 3 hours at a starbucks on Cambie on the 17th of January 18, 2008.
6. What is your business moto?
I’m not sure, never thought about it. I like “Rock On!”
Mortgage Terminator
Terminator – Robert Klein
Cell: 778 896 6732
Text: 778 896 6732
Fax: 604 648 9701
Website: http://mymortgageterminator.ca/
Email: rob@mymortgageterminator.ca
MSN: rob@mymortgageterminator.ca
Mortgage Terminator Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=61487470864&v=app_2373072738&ref=ts#!/group.php?gid=61487470864&v=wall&ref=ts
Perfect Fabrics
September 29th, 2010 by GrafikaVision
Businesswomen fled political turmoil to bring her family from to Kyrgyzstan to Burnaby
First thing in the morning,Olesya Aleksandrova, 32, leaves her Forest Grove home and loads her Volvo with a rainbow of fabrics as she heads out to meet with interior designers. But by mid-June, Aleksandrova will be able to sell her professional interior fabrics from her own storefront in Burnaby Heights, she says. Aleksandrova is excited about her prospective new business in the 4800-block of Hastings Street.
She wanted to open a retail space, as well as a showroom for clients, so she could stay in touch with individual buyers Aleksandrova said. “I so enjoy when women come and touch fabric,” Aleksandrova says. “It feels so good when I see the emotion on their face.” She was raised to take care of herself and credits her father for making her independent. “I was grown in my strong father’s hand,” Aleksandrova says with her soft, Eastern European accent.
Aleksandrova first brought fabric back with her from Kyrgyzstan last summer and offered to sell some to a North Vancouver woman, who was looking for beautiful European-style curtains on an online Russian forum, Aleksandrova said. The woman bought all of her fabric, and business took off from there.
Aleksandrova now has exclusive agreements with three factories in Europe. Most fabric sold in the Lower Mainland comes from Asia, she explains, because it is more affordable. But she has been able to negotiate with her suppliers and offers 1.5 by three metres of fabric for the same price that other importers sell 1.5 by one metre.
Aleksandrova developed her business acumen at a young age. She studied business management at the Russian university in Kyrgyzstan, she says, and went on to help her father get the family out of financial difficulties after he needed surgery. Her father was grateful for her help and gave her US$3,000 to invest as she saw fit, according to Aleksandrova.
Aleksandrova, who had initially wanted to be a doctor, used the money to start a medical clinic. It was the second private medical clinic to open in Kyrgyzstan, she says. She was 25 years old at the time. Nine months later, she opened a maternity hospital on Karakulskaya Street in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan where her family lives, Aleksandrova says. She gave birth to her first daughter shortly after the opening ceremony.
But political turmoil put the family, and business, in peril.
President Askar Akayev and his government were overthrown in what is known as the first Tulip Revolution, following elections on February 27, 2005.
By the time the government was ousted, the president’s son, Aidar Akayev, and his brother-in-law, Adil Toigonbayev, had control of 42 businesses in the country, including some of Kyrgyzstan’s most profitable companies, according to the Kyrgyz news agency Akipress. Aleksandrova says that Aidar’s people had been trying to take the a, as well.
The first night of the revolution, Aleksandrova sat up with her father in their home, her sister and mother hidden downstairs, in case the rioting in the streets came to their door. A building 200 metres away was burned down in the night, she says. The next morning, Aleksandrova’s father received a phone call threatening her life if she didn’t turn the hospital over to the caller. Aleksandrova’s father sent her, with her infant daughter and teenage sister, over the border to Kazakhstan to hide with family there, she says. They had to be smuggled over the closed border checkpoints in the luggage compartment of a work bus, Aleksandrova added.
Perfect Fabrics Contact Info:
Olesya Aleksandrova
phone: 604 729 7703
office: 3458 Hastings St, Vancouver, BC, V5K 2A6, Canada
website: http://www.perfectfabrics.ca/
Article Credit: Janaya Fuller-Evans
Burnaby NOW newspaper May 10
http://issuu.com/canwestcommunitypublishing/docs/bbysat20100522
Good brand stands for something!
May 11th, 2010 by GrafikaVision
At GrafikaVision we create anything in print from newspaper ads, to brochures and flyer designs, branding identity and logo designs, full corporate branding project including style guides, packaging design and promotional material, professional photography shoots, custom website design and development and marketing, design or advertising service in-between.