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Welcome to the 77 Design Co Team, Holly!

“If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.”

-David Oglivy

 

Hi, I’m Holly Saville, from New Alexandria, PA. I have over 15 years of experience in the sales & marketing business. My initial love and passion was to have my own successful small business(s) while also starting a family and being able to work my own schedule around them. After finding out that I couldn’t just be “mom” of 2 children, and having the work ethic to achieve more, I began to dive into my dream and opened up a small Massage & Wellness Institute for 6 years. After time had passed along with my business, and trying to balance the work and home life, I closed those doors years ago and I’m now a mom of 5 great kids, (3 girls and twin boys) ranging from middle school to kindergarten.

As an entrepreneur, I now run different businesses. Two small businesses to be exact. Both are managed out of my home, while still juggling the children’s schedules. I’m also very involved in my church as the kids/family coordinator at Bridge City Church in Murrysville. As a young mom at first my hobby became a means to earn extra income for my family years ago. Currently, I now run a small yet thriving custom cake business out of my house and take select orders. I’ve also worked in global sales during the open cracks of my day from my phone.

In my spare time when I am not working or being a full-time mom and wife, I still love to play volleyball and spend time with family and friends. I also love to serve others in my church.

My work ethic and desire to help people achieve their goals has never changed. With that said being said, I have teamed up with 77 Design to help them expand and help the companies that they work with grow and do the same. I can say without a doubt that their clients are of the most importance to them and I’ll put my best foot forward as well to help.

I’m now a part of the 77 Design Co team assisting them in administrative duties, social media marketing and sales. I believe I provide efficient and quality service in everything that I do. I’ll also pay great attention to detail and put a lot of my heart into anything that I work on. I look forward to serving the 77 team and their customers to the best of my abilities. I feel that I’m a great addition to 77 Design Co because although I’m a hard worker, I also like to have fun, love to laugh (which the 77 guys also love to do,) ENJOY the work, and I’m easy to work with. I have a great attitude and outlook on life, am easily coachable, but also have a strong work ethic and an easy-going personality. I’m excited to get started and help others properly market their small business to watch them grow!

 

“Always deliver more than expected.” — Larry Page, co-founder of Google

 

Analyze. Create. Achieve.

 

 

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What Do We Do?

Graphic design. Commercial and product photography. Branding. Printed marketing materials (flyers, cards, brochures, books, EDDM’s etc.) Web design. Social media and social media training. These are some of the things we proudly handle at 77 Design Co.

In our endless everyday travels, during networking events, or even discussions with friends and family, we often get the question about what we do here at 77. Other than running our asses off and fielding calls/texts/emails most of the time, we actually do do a LOT of work behind the scenes. In addition to finding the best ways to market a particular business and bring it a personality, we go out of our way to actually find referrals for those we work with as well. We challenge any reader to find another marketing agency that is as hands on as we are with our customers and that will go above and beyond to actually refer work to your business as well!

An initial consultation meeting with us would include questions about what you believe differentiates your company from others in the same field, and a whole lot of listening. Marketing a business requires a great deal of understanding on how it is run, who your customers are (or who you may think they are,) what areas you service, how long you have been in business, and other key aspects important to creating the correct marketing campaign. We have to understand what makes your business tick from the inside and out. Below are just some of the services we provide and a brief description of each:

Graphic Design-ever pick up an obviously poorly designed looking flyer that someone hands out? It makes you want to toss it immediately. The message is lost. We take time to create an aesthetic piece that people will want to read and look at…this is key to both standing out and converting potential customers. Any handout should also be branded to look and feel like other parts of your business.

Commercial and Product Photography-Image is everything in advertising! Having a crisp, well focused and creative image can also get your print, web and social media pages to stand out and attract customers. A creative team photo or eye catching shot of your product will get peoples eyes dancing. Ask any graphic or web designer you know, one of the first things they will tell you they need is great imagery.

Branding-Probably one of the most important things you can do for your company is to brand it effectively. Branding is a symbol or an identifiable feel that is cohesive through every feature of your business. A certain logo, color, font, image, or other design is always visible. The website, print materials, social media pages, or signs all have the same or similar look to them. This helps create brand identity. Our “77” is everywhere we can get it!

Printed Marketing Materials-This goes hand in hand with graphic design, photography, and branding. We have created some killer brochures, cards, and booklets for company’s that we are proud of. We also work with suppliers that use some of the finest inks and paper stocks that can really get these to pop. It may be worth a few extra bucks every now and again to print your materials using a textured paper or an intricate ink that will really create a WOW factor. Creative and interactive mailers can also be a superb way to touch customers.

Web Design-The online face of your business. Creating websites is a large portion of what we do and also one of the most time consuming. Add all of the elements above (minus the print) and you can really have a distinct website that looks and feels unlike any others in your industry. It needs to be user friendly also.

Social Media and Social Media Training-A small piece of the marketing pie for some, for others…HUGE! Depending on your industry, social media marketing can either attract the occasional customer or really bring in a large part of your business. We currently have a client that claims 50% of his business comes from the Facebook posts and ads we do for them. That is a significant chunk! If running a full social media campaign is not in the budget for you, we have a training program available to teach your staff how, why, when, and for what reason to consistently post.

So, thats some of the stuff we do on a daily basis. There’s much more and way too much to list here in this blog, but we hope this provides some information about 77 and what we do!

Analyze. Create. Achieve.

 

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Color: What Signals Are You Sending to Customers?

As a marketing firm dedicated to helping business owners succeed, we wanted to create an informative blog based on how the public may perceive what you are putting out to them. This blog article will deal specifically with the marketable color of your business. You may ask yourself, “what does the color of my business have to do with anything, and what is it?”

Well, frankly, it’s the persona you present to the public through the color scheme choices on any of your marketing materials AND it has a LOT to do with your image. Color dictates how potential customers feel, react, and associate with your business upon seeing your logo, website, social media pages, or other materials. There’s a lot of psychological mumbo jumbo to it and plenty of research studies have been done on the topic. Don’t believe us? Google it yourself and see.

Lets take a quick look at some examples of color as well as the positive and negative emotion/image they present:

Red: Red colors often evoke passion, power, love, speed, energy, and if used correctly can create a strong subliminal call to action. The color red can also induce feelings of anger, increased heart rate, anxiety, warning, and aggressiveness. Other things we notice as we march through life and look around us, is that our brains pick up that red is almost always associated with sex, incorrect test answers, and domination.

Blue: Blue is often the favorite choice of color by many people in studies. There are many positives, but also a few negatives with blue. Blue is one of the safest colors to use in business as it represents honesty, relaxation, calmness, spirituality, and peace. On the opposite side of the spectrum, blue can also trigger depression, frigidity, sadness, and superstition. Think of blue skies, the blue sea, winter, water, and openness to better understand how blue works.

Green: What do you immediately relate to the color green? Yep…environment! Green is associated with growth, nature, admiration, vitality, and harmony. The color green if used too much can also lead to feelings of greed (think money here), fear, apprehension, envy, and materialism. Green is a great choice for businesses relating to science and nature, as long as its not overused.

Black: Oh, black, you mysterious classy gentleman of leisure! Black creates a huge range of emotion when used in business. It can create an aura of secrecy,  authority, sophistication, strength, negativity, and protection. Black is across the board on an emotional level of it’s own and should probably be used sparingly so you don’t come off to customers as too controlling or secretive. It is also the main choice of todays youth, probably having something to do with rebellion or ambition. When you think of black, think of tuxedos, darkness, space, fear, classiness, respect…the list goes on.

Yellow: Bright, joyous, serene, optimistic, fun, and warm. Yellow seems to have it all when used as a primary business color. However, as with all of the colors there’s always negatives associated with it too. Yellow can make you feel impatient, cowardly, anxious, and unstable. We relate everyday to yellow through yellow traffic lights, (don’t lie, you want to get through it as fast as you can too) the sun, fast foods, and caution.

Orange: Ah, a supporting color of yours truly, 77 Design Co. Orange is adventurous, valuable, warm, optimistic, creative, and enthusiastic. Too much orange though can leave us feeling cheap, pessimistic, aggressive, and angry with certain shades. Orange is a color associated with food and kitchens for some unknown reason…something we also love at 77!

White: The last color we’ll discuss is white. Now white is all of the colors combined equally, but it stands alone from the others. It represents openness, cleanliness, modernity, purity, and simplicity. White can become boring, empty, distracting, and too sterile if there is too much. Humans associate white with religion (when we think of walking into those pearly bright white gates at the end of life) voids, surgical rooms, and large bright corporate board rooms.

There are many other colors obviously to choose from and of course, all of the above mentioned colors give off different vibes and emotional responses when they are presented in different tones. A light blue will invoke a differing response versus a dark blue, for example. A solid mid red color will leave people with a different impression than a light pinkish-red would. These are all things to seriously consider if you are rebranding, starting up, or making any changes to marketing materials.

If you need any help figuring out what colors to use, or would just like to hear our opinions on what colors to use for what, drop us a line. We are here to help!

Analyze. Create. Achieve.

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Mailers-EDDM’s, What Are They and What Can They Do For Your Business?

Welcome,

Today’s blog will consist of some marketing information about EDDM’s (Every Door Direct Mailers) that could be beneficial in your industry. First off, EDDM’s are a designed and printed piece that is then mailed to an area of either residential homes, commercial businesses, or both. They usually offer a discount, coupon, or simply serve as an informative piece to raise awareness about a new local business or cause. Surely, anyone reading this have received EDDM’s at some point or another within their daily mail.

EDDM’s can be either extremely useful in raising brand awareness and attracting new customers, or they can fall flat and not get the response intended. Some will produce mixed results. The advantage of spending a portion of your marketing budget on EDDM’s is that you are already in the hands of your intended customers once they pick up the mail. It is here that you need to make the biggest impact!

Have you ever grabbed the mail, saw the EDDM  <insert crumbling paper sound here>

then promptly tossed it straight into the garbage like we have? Probably. Let’s think on that for a second. Why did you do that?

Was the offer/discount not up to your standards? Didn’t need the service(s) listed? Hate the “junk mail” in your mailbox? Or is there something more to it than that?

Psychologically speaking, (and admittedly we are not psychologists here at 77, however, we have done tremendous amounts of research on the psychology of marketing) images and the overall visual appeal of the design are what immediately attract the eye. The human eye reacts in certain ways to specific images, colors, and fonts subliminally sending signals of interest to the brain which determines whether or not we’ll scan or read through something. These subconscious reactions pertain to web pages, brochures, social media posts, and almost every single marketing piece of your business. This is also likely one of the main reasons EDDM’s get tossed so quickly. A hastily designed mailer without attractive offers or professionally looking images stands less of a chance of hitting it’s mark than something that is put together creatively. Put all of this together and what many businesses, including some of the larger corporations with the budget to consistently flood homes with mailers, don’t understand is…people want to relate! They need a reason, or at least an identifiable image, to understand the business and the offer that is right in front of them in their hands.

If we see a stock template design (you know it when you see it,) a stock image (example: a photo with dopey white guys that don’t work for you in suits shaking hands in a board room that isn’t yours,) unattractive logo design (multiple color variations and /or a complicated design that is hard to understand,) we are OUT! It’s gone within seconds. This is something often discussed in detail behind closed doors at 77 about a great many marketing techniques. If it looks like the company didn’t take the time to create unique and aesthetic pieces to attract our attention, what are they going to do for us or our business that differentiates?! It’s a valid question, and many consumers feel this way.

EDDM’s need to be simplified, identifiable, yet powerfully visual with a superb offer in order to have the most potent impact on it’s intended customers. An EDDM also needs to match the same branding look and feel as your website, social media pages, or other printed hand outs and business cards. Everything needs to be flush. The offer should be quite visible and leave no room for confusion. Some ideas of identifiability for the images could include:

  • your product viewed from a different perspective others may have never seen
  • your team
  • A “WOW” image, something that will draw the eye to immediately
  • your office space
  • or even the process of production or service you offer

Without giving away anymore of 77’s inside trade secrets  😉 we’ll end this blog with simply saying if you, or a business you know, has any questions about a current direct mail program, or interest in starting one, give us a call. We’ll be happy to put you directly in touch with the customers you are looking for, find the best ways to get the most returns…and make it as attractive as possible!

Analyze. Create. Achieve.

 

 

 

 

 

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Small Business Startup and Marketing

Small Business Startup and Marketing

So what’s been happening at 77 lately? TONS! Recently at 77 Design Co, we have been working hard to help several small local businesses devise full scale marketing plans that are both cost effective for them, and entice new customers to their products. We will be promoting and marketing these businesses in the near future, so stay tuned! You WILL want to know about them!

These marketing plans cover the whole gamut of supporting and necessary needs for a business to get off the ground running. Some of the services in these plans include:

*web design (several hours per month of support)

*blogging (1-4 per month for the ever changing website)

*photography and video (several hours per month)

*graphic design (several hours of design support for new brochures/cards/logo/mailers)

*social media management (an agreed upon number of monthly posts with trainings included)

*SEO help (support and training for best practices)

The monthly marketing plans we’ve offered have been greeted thus far with open arms. They also cover a wide range of important marketing aspects that are usually purchased separately, which typically means more expense 💵 too. These programs cover it all and help our customers reach their customers as soon as they open their doors. We love to help small business thrive!

Give us a ring if you know a new business starting up.

Analyze. Create. Achieve.

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We Want Your Marketing Problems

We want your marketing problems. Yep, you heard that correctly. Bold…but true.

When Rob and I started this venture together, we identified a host of issues that both of us, individually, have ran across over the years that we have been in business. I will not say we’ve seen it all, but we have definitely seen our fair share of problems in the creative/marketing world. Everything from web designers bailing on their clients never to be heard of again, to improperly designed logos, to incorrect photo files delivered to customers, and a whole lot in between. Too many times creatives take the money, create sub par products then disappear or never correct the problems. This is unprofessional and irritating to the clients that have come to us with these issues, but it also annoys the hell out of us too. It’s a black eye on the industry.

Let me also say that this is not completely across the board. There are amazing graphics, photographers, and web creatives out there that do top notch artwork and understand that they need to give clients the highest quality of work and service. We love meeting these people! If you are reading this and feel like you are a highly creative, responsive, and responsible professional in one of these fields…drop us a line. We’d be excited to chat with you and see how we could work together.

If you are a business owner that has fell into one of these traps…we are sorry. If you spent way too much money on something that didn’t work or didn’t work very well, again, we are sorry.  We are also here to help find the solution.

Is your website outdated or not designed to your liking? Do you only have web sized files that a photographer delivered to you and are unable to use any images for print? Are the photos not very well focused or even eye catching? Is your logo pixelating and distorting when you try to add it to a larger sign, or even on the web? Did the person who made your website make it and then never return calls or emails? Not sure what to do with your business social media pages, or how to operate them to maximum efficiency? Was the cost associated with any of your marketing efforts beyond what you wanted to spend? Need a way to get customers to see what your product or service is REALLY all about? Don’t feel that the marketing company you used in the past completely understood your industry and business?

If you answered yes to any of the above or similar questions give us a call. We’d love to help with a free consultation.

We listen. We offer free advice. We dig deep into your business to learn as much as we can about it. We act quickly. We are not your typical marketing service. We have all the tools and know how to fix your marketing problems!

Analyze. Create. Achieve.