Promotional Items: Brand Awareness That Lasts

While the idea of creating promotional items seems relatively easy, there are some pitfalls companies should avoid when designing their promotional item campaign. Avoid using items that most people have seen or receive regularly, choose items based on your brand, and give out items that make sense to your target audience.

By |July 6, 2018|Articles of Interest, Branding, Just for Fun, Marketing Ideas, Trends and Technology|Comments Off on Promotional Items: Brand Awareness That Lasts

Automatic Image Sliders or Carousels: More Confusing Than Informative

Website developers continually seek new and innovative ways to display information that reaches audiences in an efficient and effective way. Occasionally, usability and design meet to create a new layout or format that revolutionizes the way websites are built. Some updates, however, seem useful in theory, but are not in practice. One recent trend uses automatic image sliders or carousels that seem useful for providing a large amount of information while taking up limited space above-the-fold.

By |June 21, 2018|Articles of Interest, Just for Fun, Marketing Ideas, Trends and Technology, Website, Website Design|Comments Off on Automatic Image Sliders or Carousels: More Confusing Than Informative

Ocreative Takes Home Three International Awards of Distinction From the 24th Annual Communicator Awards

Ocreative has been recognized for groundbreaking work in print media and web design at the 24th Annual Communicator awards. Receiving two coveted Silver Distinction awards for our print work with a few of our favorite nonprofits, INPEACE and the Funeral Service Foundation, and a third Silver Distinction for our work on the Oconomowoc Chamber website.

By |June 5, 2018|Articles of Interest, Just for Fun, News/Announcements|Comments Off on Ocreative Takes Home Three International Awards of Distinction From the 24th Annual Communicator Awards

Email Marketing Part 1: Choosing the Best Platform

Any Google search for “email marketing” returns a staggering amount of hits including a wide variety of email marketing platforms bidding for your attention and your money. While choosing the right email marketing platform is essential, it is only half the battle. In part 1 of our email marketing series, we help you choose the right email marketing platform for your business and key factors to consider.

By |May 18, 2018|Articles of Interest, Email Marketing, Just for Fun, Marketing Ideas, Trends and Technology|Comments Off on Email Marketing Part 1: Choosing the Best Platform

The Art of Business Email: Three Tips to Writing Effective Communications

Because email is such a prevalent communication tool both internally and externally, it is important to take the same level of care, and be just as thoughtful in emails to clients and business partners, as customer-facing communications. Here are three easy tips to remember to unify your business message and align your internal communications with your external brand presence.

By |March 22, 2018|Articles of Interest, Branding, Email Marketing, Just for Fun, Marketing Ideas|Comments Off on The Art of Business Email: Three Tips to Writing Effective Communications

Optimizing Your Website for Voice Search

As we saw on our 2018 marketing trends list, the use of voice search is only growing in popularity. With the popularity of voice search only growing, it is important to recognize this shift, and implement SEO tactics to help optimize your website for voice search so you are not missing out on any opportunities.

By |January 16, 2018|Articles of Interest, Just for Fun, Marketing Ideas, News/Announcements, Search Engine Optimization|Comments Off on Optimizing Your Website for Voice Search

New Marketing Tools! SharpSpring Social

SharpSpring Social and the new Content Calendar are now available! SharpSpring Social includes powerful conversion tools you can only get with fully-integrated marketing automation. It’s designed to help you turn lead interactions into meaningful conversations that generate sales. Create, schedule & publish content to social media accounts from SharpSpring.

By |January 4, 2018|Articles of Interest, Email Marketing, Just for Fun, Marketing Ideas|Comments Off on New Marketing Tools! SharpSpring Social

Our Most Popular Articles of 2017

In celebration of 2018, we've put together our top 18 articles of 2017. Thank you to all of you for your support. Our clients, readers, and watchers have helped to make it a great year at Ocreative, and we are so grateful for all of you. We hope 2017 was just as fun, exciting, and profitable for you.

An Overview of Typography

In its essence, typography is how a word looks, including what font (typeface) it is set in, what color it is, and how dramatic and decorative, or how practical, it is. The possibilities are almost endless, especially when you consider hand-lettering (the process of creating letters by hand) and the continual creation of new fonts

By |October 12, 2017|Articles of Interest, Branding, Just for Fun, Website Design|Comments Off on An Overview of Typography

How to Use Live Video for Your Business

The use of live video is one of the largest trends we have seen in 2017. It gives brands the opportunity to be authentic by creating unfiltered and unedited content. Many different social media platforms have adopted the ability to stream live video so you can reach your audience. In this article, we explain live video, why your brand should be utilizing it, and the different platforms to use.

By |August 16, 2017|Just for Fun, Marketing Ideas, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Video|Comments Off on How to Use Live Video for Your Business