Sometimes good design isn’t enough to create successful products and services. When I look around into the “sea of sameness,” I see what everyone else sees — the same. The lines are becoming blurred with the overwhelming amount of competition on shelves. Meanwhile brand loyalty is hard to come by these days. ... Read more

Super Bowl XLVI - Karyn’s top 12 highlights. ... Read more

Recently I bought a hair care product for $3.59 called “FAT HAIR.” It was in a simple round red bottle, with bold white ‘in your face’ type that promised to make my hair thicker…and IT DID. You should have seen me! For a month, I walked around with full, thick, great hair – I had so many compliments ... Read more

On January 17, at the International Assembly in San Diego, it was announced that Rotary exceeded the money necessary to fulfill its commitment to the $200 Million Polio Plus Challenge As of that date, Rotary raised $202.6 million. Thank You! The Gates Foundation matched that $200 million and added a surprising $50 million. ... Read more

FourSquare. Google+. HubSpot. Pinterest. There are a lot of social media platforms out there. Here’s the bottom line on social media: it allows you, Ms. Small Business, to better connect with your audience. Personal example #1: brandnewcutelittlecafe opens in Calumet. Curious about them, I search them and ‘like’ them on Facebook. A few weeks later I learned they are serving BACON WRAPPED CHOCOLATE. I knew this was worth a drive from, say, Chassell to Calumet on a foggy day. Would I have learned about BACON WRAPPED CHOCOLATE had it not been for ... Read more

Earlier last week, I received a direct mail flyer from the Toyota dealership in Marquette. It caught my attention because we've been in the market for a car for several months now. Riverside Toyota was having a five day "event" and claimed that their used car manager was demanding to increase the used car inventory so they were they were offering higher than normal prices on trade-ins. That message was OK and alone is an effective one ... Read more

Change. People fear it. We beg for it in others but often eschew the notion within ourselves when it could mean the most. In short, change sucks. But it doesn’t have to, especially within the world of creativity. As part of a comprehensive marketing strategy for any given business, a change in the way we think about creative design is always a strength to the process. At the Marketing Department we strive to be radically creative in all facets of ... Read more

Proofreading is an overlooked art, at least in my opinion. I’m one of those people who spot typos, dangling modifiers, overused adjectives and poor punctuation in everything I read. A misspelled word is one thing – spellcheck doesn’t always know what we meant to write – but text that is riddled with bad grammar and employs poor copywriting diminishes the company who puts it out there for all to read. More than simply checking for proper grammar, punctuation ... Read more

Our goal at the Marketing Department is to raise the bar on marketing in the Upper Peninsula. Why? Better marketing means more sales…which means growing businesses…which can turn into new jobs and strengthen our economy. We are reaching out to business owners and professionals to teach them everything we know about marketing. This article is the first in a series on marketing that will be published and distributed throughout the UP. I decided to start ... Read more

You only have a few minutes to make an impression. It is imperative that your message is clear, unique and powerful. Marketing is about gaining the trust of your audience, having them fall in love with you, and in return, you affect their buying decision. Every business is different and every approach to their brand is distinct. Your brand needs to stand out ... Read more

Looking back over the last year and the work we have done, I am amazed what we have accomplished for our clients and our community. Check out some the results below. This is proof that design alone will not create sales, increase margins, find new customers, or create brand awareness. At the Marketing Department we don’t build plans around our capabilities, we create strategies around goals ... Read more

Marketing is a ginormous word! It is an umbrella to so many things. What marketing is NOT: Designing an ad isn’t marketing, developing a website isn’t marketing, putting a logo on a mug isn’t marketing, having a brochure is not marketing. Those are the items that come out of marketing strategy. However, I see so many local businesses relying on these items to deliver results ... Read more