Black Bear Design launches a new attorney digital marketing division that focuses on helping Atlanta attorneys reach their audience online.  The package comes with a full circle of services including website maintenance, search engine optimization, pay-per-click marketing and graphic design.

“We have built many websites for attorneys” stated owner Joel Black, “.  When your talking about the thousands of attorneys in Atlanta, the first page of the search engine results is very limited.  You have to fight to be on it.”

Black Bear Design has an impressive lineup of Atlanta attorneys such as Drew Findling of the Findling Law Firm P.C., Meg Strickler and Dan Conaway of Conaway & Strickler, P.C., Bell Law Firm, Mazursky Constantine, LLC, Mclain Merritt, P.C. and many others.  Black Bear Design works with projects of all stages including planning websites from the ground up to maintaining a presence on search engines.

Maintaining and growing an industry specific service offering in Atlanta is the main focus of the new division.  There are numerous attorneys in the area that could benefit from the new service offering by Black Bear Design, although the company plans to only accept a small number of new clients so that our clients maintain their competitive advantage.

For example, Conaway & Strickler, P.C. specializes in Drug Crimes, Federal Crime, Forgery & Fraud, Sex Crimes and Domestic Relations issues while Bell Law Firm handles accident cases and Mazursky Constatine,LLC handles employment related law. The difference in specialties allows us to focus on marketing to different audiences without conflicting.

Black Bear Design specializes in website design, graphic design, logo design and Internet marketing in Atlanta.  They are a small but growing team of digital marketing professionals located in Atlanta across from Perimeter Mall.

If you’re an attorney in the Atlanta area, contact Black Bear Design and ask about the attorney marketing package to see if your specialty is currently available

Joel Black Black Bear Design Focuses on Attorney Marketing in the Atlanta Area

When it comes to this time of year, there’s usually one thing on my mind – Baseball. We’ve spent the past several months holed up in a cave with no sports to speak of and now Spring Training is finally here. I did get out occasionally to go snowboarding, but for the most part it’s been a sports–hibernation of sorts. (Okay, I’m being told there is something called “foot-ball” that is apparently very popular, and took place for several months. Hmm, never heard of it…)

Where was I? Oh yeah, baseball. And much like baseball, it’s time for us to stretch as well. We don’t want to pull a hammy during our first workout, so here are a few ways to improve as you get ready for the new season:

• Analyze your mobile content to make sure it’s consistent with the rest of your content (the concept of COPE – Create Once, Publish Everywhere – can be very helpful in this regard)
• Look into starting your next project from a mobile-first and/or content-first perspective that builds up to a desktop presence, instead of the other way around
• Take steps to improve the user experience of your next project, or even your own website
• Learn more about responsive web design and how it can help both you and your clients

 These are just a few things that may help get you out of that state of hibernation. And of course I’ve heard of football. It’s that sport where people in shorts run around for hours without scoring any points, right? Seems exhausting.

Tony Time To Stretch – Improvement For The New Season

Is it hard for you to reach your target market because by the time you are done explaining, no one is listening? Well it’s time to wake your market up!

Your marketing strategy should be short, sweet and to the point. A brief explanation will force your audience to pay attention, but will also influence them to ask more questions.  A simple strategy is a successful strategy and a successful strategy brings in more business and attention to your brand! For example, have you ever listened to a sales person go on and on about their product and after an hour you are almost asleep and have no idea what they are selling and why?

Your brand strategy should be motivating and only consist of only a few key points in order to be successful:

• The benefit your product offers
• The target audience you are trying to reach
• Define your product and how you stand out among competition
• A short background of your company

So take a look at your current marketing strategy- is it short and sweet or long and boring? Now is the time to wake up and smell all of the new potential you have waiting for you! Instant gratification!  

Mary Frances Is your Marketing strategy bogging you down?

1- Get Active

Social media marketing starts with the same basics of weight loss – activity. Creating a page does not ensure visibility and it sure doesn’t guarantee success.

2- Motivation is Everything

Posting regularly is simply not enough – the strategy relies on having a passion and motivation to engage the audience, not just populate a page.

3- Keep it Short

Much like the length of those little candy-striped workout ditties, social posts should be short. Social media provides businesses with a platform where conversations are created and interest leads consumers to find out more. Too much will result in nothing at all.

4- Have High-Energy

The energy you put into both fitness and social media marketing will determine the outcome. If you continue to hit the snooze, your audience will too. 

5- Increase Results with a Healthy Call to Action

Fitness results come with effective action – in the social media world they come with an effective call to action. Integrating a call to action into your social media interactions allows for results to be measurable. When you think in terms of share this, tweet this, like this, click here, etc. your calling consumers to actively engage with your brand.

Susan SHAKE IT UP! What Richard Simmons Can Teach Social Media Marketers

Atlanta’s top graphic design company is changing its look for the new year, as well as introducing new business concepts in order to reach out to a bigger market. In addition to launching a new brand with a new logo and a new look for the company’s website; Black Bear Design is constantly looking to improve every service offered, including logo design, branding,website design, and much, much more.

With the rise of social media and its use by businesses and corporations to communicate with customers, Black Bear Design has taken to each social media platform to advertise its graphic design services and newest innovations. The company can be found on Facebook and Twitter, as well as Pinterest. Whatever your preference, you are sure to remain updated on all the latest news. As a side-note, Facebook pages for businesses often contain more information, while Twitter pages consist more of announcements, short advertisements, and relatively-short bursts of information. Black Bear Design has also re-designed its website for reasons other than launching the new brand; the new website, like many company websites, has been re-designed to be compatible with mobile phones. The rapid expansion of the mobile market in 2013 demands that company sites be “mobile-friendly” and easily accessible from phones that connect to the internet.

One of the top innovations made for the New Year involves the introduction of a new marketing package specifically designed for small businesses. Because small businesses often lack the sufficient resources to maintain a marketing team, the package offered by Black Bear Design includes services such as website maintenance, search engine optimization, website analytics, and various graphic design services. The package has three pricing levels, which depend on the number of contracted hours: Starter, Standard, and the Marketeer. What’s even better is that it’s not exclusive to the city of Atlanta and its surrounding areas; Black Bear Design’s small-business services are available all around the country!

Social media and mobile marketing have dramatically changed the way business advertise and present themselves to customers; Black Bear Design’s innovations for the new year show that the company is expanding and always looking to improve its already highly-praised graphic design services for its customers.

Joel Black Black Bear Design Launches Branding Services in Atlanta and Rebrands Themselves

For many companies (and people) the new year brings promise and another opportunity for growth and improvement.  There is a common sense of hope and optimism with an attitude that looks to the future and what can be achieved.  Goals are set, commitments are made and the road to success is now paved with good intentions.  Now, apply this to your website.  When was the last time you looked at it?  Are you afraid to send a client to it?  Of course as we all know old habits die hard and in many cases by February the promise of the new year has dwindled.  When will the little hard-hat stick figure guy go away? – Under Construction 2009…Coming Soon!! 2010.  

Some resolutions are successful but, like our own personal goals, many are broken or forgotten.  If the newest content on your website dates back to the Bush Administration, its time to bite the bullet and focus on your online presence again.  Remember how important it was to buy that domain and just throw something temporary online?  Now its time to improve on that and establish a strong presence in the market.  The days of the yellow pages are over and a company’s website is now a huge part of its brand.  If a client visits the site, what would they say?  Could they even find it?  Commit to it. 

Don’t be embarrassed to send someone to the site and definitely don’t cut corners.  Educate yourself and your company on the value of a great site.  For many companies the website IS the sales staff.  Compare that to the overhead of a full blown sales department with benefits over 5 yrs.  The cost of a great website is negligible, plus a website will never ask for a raise or time off. 

Of course with every commitment there must be a specific goal, something you hope to achieve and improve on.  Within that goal there must be milestones and checkpoints.  A process must be developed with a clear vision of the outcome.   What do you want it to do?  Educate, make sales, encourage feedback? 

Do not become discouraged if you don’t succeed.  Change is painful.  It requires more work than we are comfortable with and most certainly a few extra hours in the office.  Create tasks that are necessary to reach the goal.  Write them down and check them off.  Treat yourself when you’ve succeeded.  Take a moment this month to decide again what is important for 2013.  Most likely the website has been brought up somewhere in those meetings.  Review the topics from January again.  Are you on track or have you derailed?

Quinn Borland It’s February, do you know where your website is?

Black Bear Design of Atlanta, GA is pleased and proud to announce the launch of their newest offering to small business owners around the country. Acknowledging that marketing strategy is a too often overlooked aspect of small business, Black Bear Design is now offering a small business marketing package.

Black Bear Design is a graphic and website design company specializing in logos, corporate identities, print material, online marketing and SEO (search engine optimization). The company has a reputation with clients for being friendly, incredibly reliable and surprisingly fun to work with. Some commenters and reviews suggest that they have superior turn-around times for orders, particularly when emergency deadlines arrive.

The team at Black Bear Design includes an impressive lineup of professionals that spans the gamut from IT Developers and multi-media specials to graphics designers and marketing professionals. It seems only natural, then that such a team would realize the need for a small business marketing package and work to address that issue.

The small business marketing package offered by Black Bear is designed to give small businesses an edge in an extremely competitive marketplace.    While many different types of services are included in this small business marketing package, some of the most commonly sought after include Graphic Design Services, Website Maintenance, SEO, PPC Marketing (pay per click) and Website Analytics and Tracking services.

Small businesses typically do not have the resources to keep a marketing team of the caliber that Black Bear Design has in house. The affordable pricing and highly flexible packages offered by Black Bear Design will undoubtedly make an attractive offer to small businesses owners around the country.

Black Bear Design’s small business marketing package has three pricing levels: Starter, Standard and The Marketeer. The packages differ based on the number of hours of contracted work. The hourly rate is discounted for small businesses and Black Bear Design will keep overage hours at the same discounted price. The new small business marketing package is sure to be a success as business owners around the country seek to increase their revenues without breaking the bank.

Joel Black Black Bear Design Introduces Marketing Packages for Small Business

Black Bear Design, a full service marketing and design company, is excited to announce the addition of Tony Price to their gaggle of creative geese.

Tony Price, Web Designer

Tony’s role as the new bearded Lead Web Designer is about good ole’ fashioned creativity. He will be tasked with designing and developing interactive solutions for all Black Bear clientele – contributing in conceptual collaboration, daily visual and tactical problem solving experiments, and of course, taking a crash course in learning how to decode our office’s secret language of sound effects.

Tony holds a degree in Graphic Design from the Atlanta Art Institute and comes to us from Impact Consulting Services where he dueled as their print and web graphic designer – and all around one-man art department from 2005-2012.

“I’m ready for a new challenge!” said Tony. “I’m thrilled to be the new kid here at Black Bear Design and I look forward to working with the many creative minds (and many personalities) to create dynamic and engaging design for our extensive list of clients!”

Tony skills are the perfect compliment to our team of creatives – a small team, big ideas. His multi-dimensional background is tightly hinged by a decade of designing, drawing and painting – ranging from t-shirts, shoes to skateboards, and logos to business cards. What’s the best part about the new guy? Well, his creative approach knows absolutely no limits, making him our clients’ new best friend.

Founded in 2004, Black Bear Design is a full-service design and marketing firm dedicated to providing clients only the best results. Our web designers,graphic designers and marketing professionals specialize in creating integrated solutions – including advertising, public relations, collateral materials, logo identity, graphic design and web development. For more information, please visit http://www.blackbeardesign.com or find us on Facebook.

Joel Black We are excited to announce the addition of Tony Price

After reading the below snippet from the author and ‘small business guru,’ Michael Gerber  - I began to question how a business / brand keeps their integrity intact while also successfully exposing their product / service message to the world?

“Without integrity, marketing is left to tricks, sophistry and lies—the same devices the old trickster used with the peas and the shells on the streets of many cities: Is it here? Is it there? Where is it? “

There is an obligation that we have to our clients and consumers; if we violate their trust in any way we are surely to lose them.  It is that simple.

Marketing Integrity

So, how to keep integrity intact?

1. Take a long hard look at your product and service – do you understand what you are promoting? Do you believe in what you are promoting? Can you communicate this message effectively? If not, you may want to educate yourself on these points. Your company’s success depends on you and your team being the experts.

2. Do you use fluff, buzz words, empty promises, or simply a price point to angle your business ahead of the competition? If so, your value proposition may need to re-evaluated – marketing and integrity starts with understanding exactly what your strengths are, not selling your customer a bag o’ goods.

3. Are you effectively building relationships? In every industry marketing is about building relationships by managing client expectations, delivering honesty and quality products /services. Marketing integrity builds a foundation for trust and instills what every business is after, growth. 

Susan How to Keep Integrity Intact in your Marketing Company

While sitting in traffic one fateful Monday, I noticed the advertising on a bus in front of me. Now, being in the marketing and design world I find myself constantly oohing and booing design found everywhere in my environment. On this day however, I was more shocked at what indeed was  before my very eyes. On the side of this particular bus was a QR code. Hmmm, I pondered to myself, how many consumers while driving (in crazy Atlanta traffic) actually have grabbed for their phone (using the other free hand to steer, of course) and tried to focus in on the moving target? Nilch, none, zero I say. What about the other handful sitting in traffic? Do they pull out their phones and scan while waiting for the light to change? Well, no and even if they tried the distance, angle and size of the code in question would just not allow for registration.

So, marketeers and business owners, the truth lies in a few simple facts – a QR code, must be in proper distance, at a proper angle and most importantly must be a minimum size of 1″ x 1″ for our smart phones to be able to compute the  information. 

While QR codes have become the craze and do offer businesses a quick and easy link to products and information, there must be a strategy behind the placement. Placement on a postcard, billing statement, or business card are strategic – embedded into the design of a website, on a flying banner or on a moving (or non-moving for that matter) bus are simply not.

The best advice I can give is to first understand the user’s experience before applying a QR code. What marketing material is the code being applied to – is it feasible (or possible) for a consumer to scan? What information are you sending them to – is it a worthwhile web experience with content or a chance to win that may bring them back to your site again? 

Need more evidence (or more of a laugh)? Check out these QR codes gone bad:

Susan The Truth and Humor Behind the QR Code