Decals, Signs and Design on Vancouver Island

It was great to see post-Covid restriction tourist visits trending up on Vancouver Island. From what I saw-certainly in and around Tofino and Ucluelet-folks are back out adventuring and resetting.

As a marketer and designer working in the area I created some materials to help local businesses increase walk-in traffic, prompt social sharing, and get more online reviews, all cost effective ways for tourism business to get additional customers. Here are some examples of my recent work. I have recently invested in a decal cutting machine and look forward to getting some great graphics up for businesses that are missing out on interest from passersby and their wandering eyes.

Get an eye catching new logo and/or decals/stencils.

Window Decals and Signs – Cameron Ocean Adventures

With a new storefront leased just up from where they dock their covered whale watching vessel, Cameron Ocean Adventures asked COFFEE Business Stimulus (me) to help them capture more attention and get return on their location and visual real estate.

Window decals invited folks exploring the aquarium and public dock to tour or fish with COA. Unique selling propositions like a comfortable heated craft with washrooms were shared and the social proof of positive reviews were front and center.

The COA logo previously crafted by COFFEE informed the design system for store signage. The objective was to visually communicate professional and comfortable access to adventure on the water and in the wild.

Promotional Postcards and Bookmarks

The best way to stimulate social sharing and to get Google Business reviews (THE most important way to make your business visible in Google Maps) is to ASK FOR THEM. And you might as well ask in a memorable and amusing way.

COFFEE created promotional postcards and bookmarks to help staff prompt guests to share their experiences and submit reviews.

Covid Cooking Recipes: Cajun Curry Roast Pumpkin and Pulse Burgers

Stay healthy. Stay happy. Eat burgers.

I was craving burgers while in self-isolation and while I’m normally a pretty big carnivore it seemed like a great opportunity to try something new and clean out the pantry a bit. If you notice any atypical ingredients that was out of necessity. The goal was to make the best burger with what I had without running to the store. I dug deep into the freezer as well. It all ended up pretty tasty. 

What are hashtags and how should I use them?

Over the last decade consulting hundreds of businesses and communications professionals on digital and social media communications – “What are hashtags and how should I use them?” have been two of the most common questions people ask. It has also become clear that many businesses that think they understand hashtags are actually not using them to their full potential. For that reason I put together a short and sweet summary to help you understand hashtags and how to use them to get more customers while engaging your current audience.

Get word of mouth marketing. Get Socialgenic™.

I wrote this article when I was working at Destination Think! consulting dozens of tourism businesses across North America on how to improve their products (services) and promotions for “connected customers”. I have decided to republish it here for 2020 as it seems more relevant than ever. I hope you enjoy it and please contact me with any questions or for a personal ideation conversation.

Beer + COFFEE = Ucluelet Brewing Co. Brand

My marketing and branding company COFFEE was excited to get the nod to create the logo for Ucluelet Brewing Co. – BC’s newest craft brewery (slated to open early 2020).

An expression of asymmetrical balance, strong but feminine, adventurous and stable.

The importance of fonts for branding – GoDaddy

Logging in to check some GoDaddy domains this morning I was surprised to see serifs where once there was none. While the usually login screen which has featured a smiling GoDaddy call-center rep for several years was also gone, (perhaps they realized people buy the hole not the drill, or that positioning themselves on service was not exactly putting their best foot forward) the simple change to the font let me know something big was afoot. GoDaddy has been Wix-Space-ified.

Improve Email Open Rates for Internal and Stakeholder Communications

Creating communications content requires a significant investment of your time and effort. It is unwise to neglect the techniques available to you to maximize your audience and the potential impact of your message.

Unique Business Card 2019 – The Year of Socialgenic Marketing

This year I am doubling down on the power of experiences and communications that are shareable by design in my own businesses and the attention grabbing solutions we build for our clients at COFFEE Business Stimulus. Watch this space (or better yet subscribe) to see a collection of our and other’s outputs that capitalize on the Socialgenic ethos (stimulating peer to peer sharing by design).

Simple SEO Tips

As I work with my clients UclueletBrewing.ca, CameronOceanAdventures.com and TheTantalusGroup.com I have identified some great tools and simple SEO tips that I am happy to share. Please hit me back with your top simple SEO tips in the comments so we can learn together and build a resource.

Power to the “PEOPLE” and Pinterest

Are you creating a simple mood board? Consider Pinterest.com. Here are a few reasons:

1. With a “secret board”, you can easily collect inspiration and keep links to the original page in one click.
2. Pinterest also makes it really easy to share the board with clients and have them contribute cooperatively.
3. Only folks you invite can see the board and you can uninvite them.
4. As you filter your pics to your final list you can easily create sub-boards (i.e. PEOPLE Final) and tag the key inspirations there without losing them in the original list.
5. Pinterest is a free way to create mood boards fast.