Ryan in Marketing | November 30th, 2011

Helping startups … well, start up.

I’ve read somewhere it’s called startup-to-startup: a new crop of businesses helping smaller, younger companies work faster and be cooler — for a better price. Or something like that. It’s a promising space for entrepreneurial types and seasoned business leaders.

However, while we’re filled with zeal and aspire to take over the world (or at least our little corner of it), we’re also realists and acknowledge that we don’t have buckets of gold waiting to be invested in promising young businesses or fancy degrees from highly touted Universities that say (on paper) we know more on how to ‘institutionally implement best practices to maximize operational efficiency’ or whatever other convoluted jargon corporate squares tend to pontificate about. Continue reading →

Ryan in Marketing | November 29th, 2011

Why Brands Still Need Facebook ‘Fans’

While we sometime joke and poke fun at some of the request of individuals (never clients of course) who want to get ‘fans’ on a Facebook page or ‘followers’ on Twitter without really knowing the value that acquired individual — or worse yet — have a strategy in place to migrate that user to a higher level of brand loyalty, we do acknowledge the value of properly leveraging the social media behemoth that has arisen over the last several years.

In this AdAge artical, Social-media agency SocialCode is the latest firm to try to calculate the value of a Facebook fan as part of a new study. Their verdict: Continue reading →

Ryan in Lifestyle, Marketing, Random Thoughts | November 25th, 2011

Facebook is the new Kevin Bacon. Kind of.

First, off — I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. After surely feasting for hours and filling your belly more than full with heavy starches, carbs and pieces of pie, I think it’s a perfect time to talk about Kevin Bacon.

Animal House. Footloose. Tremors. A Few Good Men. Apollo 13. And of course, the classic The Air Up There. All outstanding performances driven by the main man, only seven degrees separated from all of us, Kevin Bacon.

What’s that you say? Kevin Bacon has been ham-hocked and is no longer needed. By one degree?   Continue reading →

Ryan in Random Thoughts | October 30th, 2011

It’s not just a t-shirt. It’s a statement.

So I’ve mentioned before that I have several much brighter and better looking friends that own and run small businesses. Well, one of them is a design, screen printing and embroidery shop in Minneapolis. Chux is amazing — not only did Chuck (get it?) venture out on his own years ago before starting your own business was ‘cool’, he immediately gained traction in the market with extremely high quality products and responsive customer support.  He often says he’s not going to win on price — so if someone is solely shopping for the cheapest product, he’s not interested. And it’s served him well. Continue reading →

Ryan in Marketing | October 3rd, 2011

Attack of the QR Codes!!!

Did I lose you at QR? Okay, this isn’t new (and we don’t whole-heartedly endorse the use of them at all times) but we’ve received more than several (like 7!) inquiries from clients about using QR codes.  Like the question “Should I have a Facebook page” or “Do I need a Twitter account?”, opinions vary here at FJD on the use of OR codes. But first, what are we talking about? QR codes are becoming the hot topic of marketing managers, business owners and smart phone addicts.  But should you use them?  And if so, how?

What are QR codes?

They’re the little black and white digitized squares you see now and then on print ads, banners, bus stops, etc. QR codes consist of black modules arranged in square patterns on a white background. Continue reading →

Ryan in Marketing, Random Thoughts | September 27th, 2011

RFP Hell – Part III

As many of you know, or not… I HATE RFPs. HATE HATE HATE! I know that companies do them to be fair and get a glimpse of what a company is all about. But an RFP?

So I just got an RFP from a local company. 32 pages…of crap…of stuff that has nothing to do with marketing their services or their vision for their new online presence. What makes it worse is that the first group to look at the RFP at that place won’t be marketing folks. It will be some subgroup of folks that have to weed through Continue reading →

Ryan in Random Thoughts | September 20th, 2011

What’s SUP?

I just had coffee (at freaking 6am — WAY too early for me) with three good friends — and small business owners — at the first of what’s to be a monthly gathering of the minds to discuss the ins and outs of running a small business.  It’s the American dream right? Well, as we all agreed, there are a many more variables to running a successful business that any of us anticipated.  While the conversation ebbed and flowed through a variety of topics, the mainstay was a discussion on what Silver Creek Paddle & Co.has learned over the last year and a half as a retailer (and now distributor) of stand up paddle boards and related G&A. What’s amazed me is that Rob (and his wife DeeDee)

have taken a relative unknown in SUP (at least in the Midwest) and positioned themselves at the forefront of the sport as the thought leader for media, product experts for consumers and now the pipeline for retailers hoping to catch a bit of this fast rising sport.  And they’ve got a plan (hey, a plan! what a novel idea for a business) Continue reading →

Jerry in Design | September 7th, 2011

Branding A Lake A Day


We’re the land of 10,000 lakes, go ahead, show me 10,000 ways to give each lake it’s own brand … quite the undertaking if you ask me. I realize I’m sending you off to the competition, but so be it. I thought this was a lot of fun and worth having a look at.

Her website sums up the project as:

Continue reading →

Ryan in Marketing, Technology | September 5th, 2011

Get Moving. Get Mobile.

Just in case you’re not already planning your mobile marketing strategy, here are a few reason to start:

Mobile Marketing Facts for 2011

  • More than 1 billion of the 4 billion mobile phone users are now using smartphones
  • 3 billion are sending SMS messages on a daily basis
  • Over 70% of the world’s population now have a mobile phone
  • Apple has sold almost 60 million iPhones world-wide since the iPhones initial launch
  • Google’s Android OS is growing at 886% year on year and carriers now activate over 160,000 Android devices a day, in more than 40 countries.

Holy crap, what did we do ten years ago?

Continue reading →

Jerry in Design | September 3rd, 2011

Going Retro! Police Squad Car Tribute To The Past.

We’ve all seen sports teams wear their “retro” jerseys, to honor teams of the past … but police cars? That’s exactly what the City Of Golden Valley is doing with it’s new Police Car design. In honor of Golden Valley’s 125th Anniversary, the Golden Valley Police Department retrofitted its newest Dodge Charger to resemble a patrol car from the 1940s.

Continue reading →