The Awesome Sauce Marketing Blog

We all know that management styles can run to extremes that hinder credit union growth. Progress can grind to a halt when micro-managers fixate on insignificant minutiae. On the other end of the spectrum, laissez faire managers can't lead their staff in the right direction because they provide no direction at all. The happy medium for credit union growth is to delegate some decisions away from managers, incorporating a team approach, where all members contribute to a winning outcome.

Team Prime has been around for over 5 years now (cheers to that!) and along with all the growth, great clients and awesome people we work with, there comes taxes, payroll, lease agreements and other headaches associated with running a small business. As much as we'd like to say we know what we are doing, there's room for improvement. Heck, between Ben, Gregg and myself, we have two art degrees and a history degree and a grand total of MAYBE 4 to 5-ish business classes.

Enter the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. I was lucky enough to be referred to this program by Ryan Rickert, an alumni of the program from the year before who is a client and a good friend of mine. Goldman Sachs, you say? Small Business? "Sign me up," I'm thinking. I signed up, filled in all the required fields, and after a thorough interview process, I found out I was the recipient of one business education golden ticket to Babson College, located outside Boston, MA.

July 4th - What's not to like? The weather is usually hot and awesome, it's an additional day off from the daily grind at the office, and there are fireworks, cold bevvies, BBQs, and time spent with friends and family. It can't be beat in this guy's opinion. The 4th of July has some deeper meaning to me, as my 4th of July, 2004 was spent in the hot, dusty desert of Iraq. As as member of the Montana Air National Guard, I always knew there was a possibility of deployment, and sure enough, I got the call, packed my bags and headed out. There's nothing like an experience like that to make you realize what's important in life. Before I left, I remember how irritated I would get with all the "first world" problems - irritating drivers on the road, the cost of gas, my beer wasn't cold enough - you know, those little things that happen every day that add up and can get under your skin. I now make a conscious effort to catch myself when I start getting irritated to think big picture. We have it so damn good in this country. 

We, being graphic designers, have high standards--for design. Other areas of our lives may or may not live up to such strict guidelines. The best way to go about guaranteeing that the brand experience stays intact is to spell out how it needs to be represented in well put together Brand Guidelines. Boring, right? Not so fast - some of the best guides out there are just as creative as the companies they represent.

Companies With Effective Brand Guidelines

1. Adobe (PDF)
2. Facebook
3. Apple - this is broken down into categories
4. Target (PDF)

And it's not all about "the logos." Your brand represents not only who you are, but how people perceive every single aspect of your business. Yes, your logo and your business card matter, but that's just scratching the surface. It could be the first impression they garner from the first phone conversation. Or it could be how "business casual" is defined in your office.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so when you are trying to quickly show data, putting that info into infographics could be a lot more effective than a spreadsheet. How much more effective? Your audience is 30 times more likely to read and retain visual information.