Why We Love (and Why You Should Care) About Pantone’s 2018 Color of the Year: Ultra Violet (Marketing & Advertising)

Photo by Anderson Creative.

About the project:

Anderson Creative is a boutique agency based in the Indianapolis area. In early 2018, they enlisted me to help them launch a series of articles to capture who they are.

The first was about the founder and president, Arin Anderson. An artist at heart, Arin wanted the focus of our fascinating interview to be on the power of color. We explored how ultra violet was a reflection of the cultural moment and how brands utilize color to communicate values.

LINK TO ARTICLE HERE.

Hearers to Kneelers to Chosen (Marketing & Advertising)

About the project:

CSS Publishing, a Christian publisher of pastoral resources, needed help keeping up with press releases to promote upcoming books. The target audience was Protestant pastors of various denominations as well as Catholic clergy who follow the Lectionary (prescribed teaching throughout the church calendar).

This is a sample of my work.

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Lima, Ohio (CSS Publishing Co.) [INSERT DATE] – CSS Publishing Company of Lima, Ohio announces the release of Hearers to Kneelers to Chosen: The Transformed Life, a series of second lesson sermons for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, Cycle B.

In the early church, new converts to the faith were first called “hearers” as they listened to instruction; when they were mature enough to remain for prayer they became “kneelers”; only once the elders were convinced they would not recant, even in the face of martyrdom, would the pupils become baptized into the faith as “the chosen.”

This is the journey of empowerment Ron Love invites us to embark upon in Hearers to Kneelers to Chosen. Echoing theologian Immanuel Kant, Love draws upon Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians to answer three basic philosophical questions every believer asks in his or her heart. What can I know? What should I do? What may I hope?

Rich in stories of historical figures, Hearers to Kneelers to Chosen demonstrates that those who seek knowledge of scripture, who choose love over fear and who trust in Jesus Christ will have the power to do nothing short of transforming the world, one life at a time.

Ronald H. Love was called into the ordained ministry from a career as a state trooper. He has served Methodist churches in rural, inner-city and suburban settings for 20 years, and also served for four years as an Army chaplain. Dr. Love has also been a corporate librarian for a Fortune 500 company and been a university professor for 10 years, teaching history and theology. His writing experience includes denominational publications, magazine articles on religion, and a newspaper devotional column. He holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology (Slippery Rock State College), master’s degrees in library and information science (University of Pittsburgh), secondary education (Duquesne University), church history (Indiana University of Pennsylvania), and theology (Wesley Theological Seminary), as well as a doctorate in homiletics (Pittsburgh Theological Seminary). Dr. Love now resides in South Carolina.

CSS Publishing Company, Inc. is a leading, non-denominational publisher of preaching and worship resources, chancel drama, and many other related products for the Protestant church. It is located at 5450 North Dixie Highway, Lima, OH, 45807. The company was founded in 1970 by Rev. Wesley Runk and Rev. Thomas Lentz and is now operated by the second generation of the Runk family. For more information about CSS Publishing Company and its products, please visit www.csspub.com, www.SermonSuite.com or www.lectionaryscripturenotes.com. Hundreds of CSS Publishing Company resources for church ministry are also available through Amazon, Cokesbury, Christian Book Distributors (CBD), Barnes and Noble, LifeWay Christian Stores, Family Christian Stores and other Christian bookstores. CSS invites interested parties to call toll-free, (800) 241-4056 for more information about Hearers to Kneelers to Chosen or any of its other church ministry resources.

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The Power of Vehicle Wraps: How to (Literally) Drive ROI in 6 Months or Less (Marketing & Advertising)

About the project:

The goal of this ebook was to give prospective buyers of mobile graphic advertising a simple, yet comprehensive look at the easy process of ordering a vehicle wrap, the relatively low cost and the expected return on investment. Presented on the client’s website as a downloadable PDF with email capture.

(Designed by Farmhouse Creative)

LINK TO PDF: The Power of Vehicle Wraps

Wear Your Brand (Marketing & Advertising)

http://www.starocketmedia.com/2015/05/wear-your-brand

There are lots of advantages to sporting branded apparel. It unites your team, communicates your corporate culture and gives your customers opportunities to become walking billboards for you. Most importantly, 87 percent of people you meet will remember you and your company because they meet you wearing your logo.

Not bad. In a comprehensive, top-to-bottom, wall-wraps-to-business-cards marketing strategy, wearing your brand is a must.

We offer several options for how to do this, which we break down into two general categories – screen printing and embroidery.

SCREEN PRINTING
We have a detailed process for printing high-quality artwork onto fabric. Ink is applied with the use of a stencil one color at a time, layer by layer. What’s most important for you to know is that printing works well for rich, vibrant designs. The screen printing process will really bring your brand to life.

The greatest strengths of screen printing are vibrancy, intricacy and versatility. We can print just about anything you throw at us.

EMBROIDERY
Incorporating your logo into finely-stitched thread gives your shirts, hats, bags, etc. a classic, professional look. Although stitching isn’t quite as versatile as printing, it tends to last longer, likely as along as the medium itself. The embroidered look is very well-suited to some corporate cultures.

The strengths of embroidery are durability, traditional look, and sometimes lower cost (though this depends on a number of factors including the type of apparel, size of the embroidery and quantity).

Please don’t make any ordering decisions with us or your promotional supplier based on this article alone. The decision on how best to wear your brand should be based on a thorough consultative process.

We’re happy to answer any questions you have about how that process works here

Mobile-Friendly is the Wave of the Present (Marketing & Advertising)

www.farmhousecreative.net/2015/05/mobile-friendly-is-the-wave-of-the-present

Look around you. Heads are bowed at the grocery store. Drivers are taking longer to react to green lights. People strolling through neighborhoods are snapping photos.

They want the coupon, the directions, the realtor’s specs – right now. Not back at home on their desktop computers, not anymore. It’s a hassle even just to fire up a laptop.

Although it’s getting late in the mobile revolution (we’re already a few years deep), it is not too late to optimize your website for visitors on mobile devices. This is a pretty good time. Google has recently changed the way their search engine works so that mobile-friendly websites show up higher than mobile-unfriendly ones.

You know a website that fails the mobile friendliness test right away when you look at it on a smartphone:

  •  You have to zoom in and scroll around to be able to see anything.
  •  It’s tough to tap on the link you want.
  • Pictures get in the way, shoving text off to the side, making it hard to read.

Is this what your site is like on a mobile device? Think how your visitors, who use their smartphones to do everythingelse online, feel when they find you. They may or may not consciously judge you for the inconvenience, but you better believe they will likely put off exploring your site and may not remember to return.

So talk to your website developer about making it mobile-friendly not only because Google said to, but because it will keep visitors on your site long enough to take the action you want them to.

Want to know if Google considers your site mobile-friendly? Follow this link, enter your web address, and don’t panic if you don’t like what you see. We’re here to help.