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Brand Management 101: Styleguides
The Styleguide we created for our client Kinetix captures their core brand essence, brand filters and other vital brand information and guidelines. Imagine you’re a prospective customer or client. You...
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Think Before You Tweet… Or You Might Just Get Fired
The wrong tweet could cost you your dignity and your job. Oh, the almighty Internet. How we love and despise thee. As we’re all Facebooking and Tweeting our lives away, it’s out with the days of...
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My Love/Hate Relationship With Conferences
I’ve been to dozens of conferences in my career, speaking at some and even chairing one myself, and while I love being challenged to consider new ideas and perspectives while meeting likeminded...
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Content on your website doesn’t just write itself
photo courtesy of hubspot.com Clients often come to us for a new website. But a new website doesn’t invent itself. People think about design and layout, and how they want it to look and feel; however,...
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Styleboards: Saving clients time, money, and headaches through the web design...
Most businesses these days are familiar with the process of identity design; they either have experience working with a design agency in the past, or have a rough understanding of the process....
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Is it time to take your name off the door?
HCMA has moved beyond last names on their door. Is it time to consider doing that at your professional services firm? A few years ago we worked with a law firm that had a name comprised of the...
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11 Lessons I Learned the Hard Way Managing a Design Firm
Mark Busse has learned many things managing a design firm. Here are 11 of them for you. Pretty Isn’t Always the Best Choice It took years of running a design business to realize that making the right...
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How to Blog Harder and Smarter in 2013
2013 has arrived, and with it comes new implications about content marketing strategy. We played the content marketing game in 2012, but do we really know all the rules and secrets of creating popular...
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Are Social Media and Blogging Worth Your Time?
In short, yes. At the very least, it is worth exploring and developing a basic plan. Based on our experiences with various Professional Services clients, not all social media avenues make sense for...
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Is it time to update your website? Probably. Here are a few reasons why.
You’ve probably been told somewhere along the way that updating your website is a good idea. We’ve all seen some pretty swanky sites out there. Some are better than others, but the updated ones looks...
View ArticleYour company is your baby. How to learn to let go.
All of us can find articles peppered with generic advice like this: Develop your brand identity. Stay true to your business model. Push the boundaries. Stick to your core competencies. Allow for growth...
View ArticleHow to Pick and Choose Clients. 7 Tips for Professional Services Firms.
In recent economic times, Professional Service firms struggled alongside other businesses. Firm owners had to tighten their belts, so to speak; cutting back on employees and reducing company spending....
View ArticleReinvention: The designer’s key to happiness?
The following article by Mark Busse is published in the September/October 2013 print edition of Design Edge Canada Magazine. I encourage you to go out and pick up your own copy to read the full article...
View ArticleChanges in the SEO landscape and what it means for your AEC firm
What happened? News broke recently that Google will begin encrypting data on all keyword search queries and the internet went up in flames. For many people, this was bad news indeed. For some of us,...
View ArticleKick start your social media marketing plan
If you’ve read any of our most recent blog posts, you’ll realize that one of the biggest changes in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry right now is online marketing. While...
View ArticleSix common “patterns” that can affect design.
We were asked by a consultant recently if there were certain patterns and common assumptions that we’ve noticed with regards to repeated application of marketing/design knowledge to similar clients....
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My first Dreamforce experience: not awesome or phenomenal
When we started using Salesforce, we knew it was a powerful CRM that could help us—and ultimately our clients—generate leads and help improve our interactions with clients and prospects. But we had no...
View ArticleKey to growth: specialization
The following article by Ben Garfinkel is published in the December 2013 print edition of Design Edge Canada Magazine. Pick up your own copy to read the full article or you can download the full PDF...
View ArticleAct like an expert, not a designer
The following article by Mark Busse was published on December 9, 2013 in Design Edge Canada Magazine. As a young design producer I was convinced my job was to keep clients happy. To service them to...
View ArticleMark Busse Speaking Engagements
Mark Busse is an experienced speaker and lecturer on the topics of design, creativity, and business. He is the partner and managing director of Industrial Brand, host and organizer of Creative Mornings...
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