Saturday
January 21st

Top 5 (FREE) Productivity Apps for Businesses

Dropbox on iPhone

As Enzo Creative designs more responsive websites for compatibility with smartphone and tablet users, we thought we would share productive apps to make our mobile world easier. Simple tasks can be easily tackled at your fingertips because undoubtedly, “there’s an app for that”.

But which apps are going to be the most helpful in the productivity of your business? The iTunes store can be overwhelming with different variations of the same app where some are free and some you must purchase. We at Enzo Creative have put together a list of our top 5 favorite apps that help us with even the smallest tasks — the best part is that these are all FREE.

1. Dropbox

Dropbox originated as an online storage space where you can upload and store your files. The app brings the convenience of having access to all of your files—images, music, pdfs, and important documents—right on your device from your computer. It eliminates the need for e-mailing files, using a flash drive, or burning discs so you can transport your files super easily. And since you can share folders with other Dropbox users, your colleagues or friends can instantly share files without having to login to multiple accounts or download attachments. (Dropbox is free for up to 2gb of space.)

2. Idea Flight

Need to share your ideas in a meeting? Idea flight allows you to be a member of a digital presentation, personally displayed on everyone’s device in the room. As a “Pilot”, you present your ideas, move things around, and point things out. As a “Passenger”, you simply watch the presentation, and make your own notes. Want to transfer your notes right to your computer? Idea Flight can sync with your Dropbox account, and your notes are instantly a PDF available on your desktop. You can even set up a passcode to get into the presentation – perfect for those top secret meetings. (Paid versions of Idea Flight do offer more features.)

3. Epson iPrint

This app allows you to wirelessly sync your Epson printer with your device and print any of your files or images. This is perfect for when you’re working away from your desk and need to print without having to bring your files up on your desktop. If you don’t have an Epson printer, similar apps are available for other printers like HP or Lexmark.

4. Qrafter

QR codes are those small, square barcodes seen on a variety of media including magazine ads, direct mail pieces, in-store displays and out-of-home advertising. By scanning (with an app) the code you can instantly access websites, video, product information, and much more. There are a lot of these apps available, even though they most do the same thing so you can’t go wrong. But you can’t scan without the app!

5. Twitter

Twitter is almost essential these days in keeping your business in the loop with your clients, followers and competitors. Optimized for your device, Twitter makes it easier to post, share and keep in touch with those you need to.

Posted by: Cayla Ferrante | Posted in Business Tips Tagged Apps, Enzo Creative, mobile design, mobile website, QR Codes |

Monday
January 9th

iPad and iPhone Stop-Motion Video Mixes Graphic Design, Paper and Technology

Strategic Branding, Web Design and Graphic Design. Enzo Creative’s areas of expertise… and the headlines used in one of our latest projects—a stop-motion video.

In this video (also seen on our About page), we wanted to capture the essence of the smartphone and tablet world in a unique way. We utilized stop-motion animation which is a technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence.

Everything in the video is created with paper, except Cayla’s hands. We married gestures common to mobile users with three dimensional cut paper. Handmade paper iPhones and an iPad were used to create over 200 still photographs each featuring a slight progression from one image to the next.

Three consecutive frames from our stop-motion video. You can see these in the video at the 15 second mark.

Most of our new website design projects are being created with responsive design or fluid design to accommodate the wide variety of ways people are viewing content on the web. Responsive or fluid designs present smartphone, tablet or desktop computer visitors with content and layouts tailored specifically for their device, sometimes changing dramatically when holding a device vertically or horizontally. In the ever-expanding smartphone and tablet world, your website should look its best on all devices.

Posted by: Lou Leonardis | Posted in Design & Branding, Videos Tagged Enzo Creative, graphic design, strategic branding, Summit NJ, video, web design |

Wednesday
December 21st

Business Branding: Top 5 New Year’s Resolutions You Should Keep

With the New Year here, we wanted to share a few smart branding resolutions you should abide by for 2012. Consider moving these from your “to do” list to your “just do it” list.

Make your branding consistent

Take inventory of your collateral and marketing materials. Make sure they are aligned with your brand’s message and mission. If not, remove them from the public eye and focus on creating new, on-point communications to replace them. Remember: the more consistent your communications are the greater the chances your customers will buy in to your message.

Make your website mobile-friendly

Every day more and more people are performing online searches via their mobile devices—we’ve definitely noticed a growing trend toward mobile in Enzo Creative’s analytics. Presently, few websites are optimized for mobile devices and the ones that are show up near the top of the results on Google mobile search. It’s a massive opportunity that you really should capitalize on.

Offer more online content

New, original and respected commentary is a great way to increase organic page ranking. Publish original insights, videos, info-graphics and images that are compelling and relevant to your audience. You can publish on your site but also look to share content elsewhere on the web or as a guest columnist on respected blogs—make sure you always request a link back to your site. Google also weights social engagement which makes this an important resolution (see below).

Encourage interaction in social platforms

What is your favorite social media platform? Facebook? Twitter? Google +? LinkedIn? Tumbler? Make sure you are engaging your fans and followers so your social sites generate “social” activity instead of just being a dispensary for your latest sale or product information. Ask questions, post surveys, share videos and links. Asking for reviews is also a good practice.

Embrace new technology

Look at new technology as an opportunity to improve the overall experience for your customers. For example, a restaurant that streamlines the ordering process by substituting iPads for its menus is an attention grabber. The ability to have photos and videos of menu items as well as other relevant information at customers’ finger tips is priceless, not to mention the value of the buzz and media coverage it can generate.

If you liked this article, you can read more like it here. See our other categories on the right sidebar.

Posted by: Lou Leonardis | Posted in Business Tips, Design & Branding Tagged Branding, design, mobile search, mobile website, social engagement |

Monday
December 5th

4 Easy Ways to Market Small and Midsize Businesses to Existing Customers

With some thoughtful planning, well-crafted messaging and great design you could be improving relationships with your existing customers—and increasing revenue. With it costing six times more to get a new prospect to buy from you versus an existing customer, these four suggestions make even more sense in a tight economy.

Email Marketing

It’s cheap (or free). It’s fast. It’s effective. From day one, email can be a simple way to communicate with your customers. You can create groups within your list, providing specific news or offers to them. There are free and paid services available and the one you select may be considered depending on the size of your list and the frequency you plan to send. MailChimp is our favorite due to its diverse plugin capabilities, RSS feed integration, and how easily you can incorporate custom templates into the account. (Here’s a link from us to get $30 in free MailChimp services.)

Facebook Page

With over 800 million active users, your customers are bound to be on it. Offer incentives to “like” your page and post exclusive content to your followers. You can instantly reach your customers with news or offers and give your reaction to current events. Facebook also provides an open forum with your customers, but be sure to respond to their inquiries promptly. With monitoring tools built into Facebook, you can see when your visitors are most active, thus creating scheduled posts or offers that your customers know are coming, say, on Tuesday morning at 10am. Best of all, a Facebook account and page are free. (You can take a look at the Enzo Creative Facebook page here.)

Personalized Direct Mail

Depending on your business, direct mail may be very productive in customer retention, though not the least expensive. The quality of your data list is critically important to allow for relevant relationship marketing opportunities. With the advent (and explosion) in digital printing, it’s now possible to completely customize a direct mail piece to your customer. It is no longer just littering their name throughout a letter or postcard. Utilizing a database of customer information, you can call out unique text, colors and even images, creating a truly unique direct mail piece that talks specifically to your customer. The digital printing aspect also allows you to print and produce exactly what you need without any waste. We can help you through the entire process, taking production and postage costs into consideration. (See and read about one of our direct mail case studies here.)

“Thank You” Calls

A simple thank you call to a customer can go a long way. Your customer receives a level of attention and communication that the above suggestions cannot replicate. The calls take a great deal of time depending on your customer base but can yield wonderfully positive results. A phone call provides you with a moment to say ‘hello’ and ask them how you can serve them better. You can also offer them a special promo code to use on your website in exchange for their email address, or a new business lead.

There you have it. Four easy ways to market your business to existing customers. Enzo Creative can help implement any of these suggestions for you. Give us a call at 908.219.4703 to find out how to begin or you can complete our contact form here and we will reply promptly.

Posted by: Enzo Creative | Posted in Business Tips Tagged direct mail, email marketing, existing customers, facebook, small business |

Monday
November 28th

Enzo Creative Designs Logo for Emerging Hiking Trail

When Enzo Creative was approached to design the Shawangunk Ridge Trail logo we happily accepted the challenge. As one of the premier emerging hiking routes in the Northeast, the Shawangunk Ridge Trail (SRT) extends from the Appalachian Trail in High Point, NJ 40 miles north into New York and plans are under development to extend the trail another 30-plus miles.

Beginning in 1989, the SRT was constructed as an alternate route for the Long Path, a 347-mile trail that extends from the George Washington Bridge to the Albany, NY area. The SRT route is especially useful for backpackers because it avoids 30 miles of road walking through the developed area of Orange County. The trail generally follows the Shawangunk Ridge north including ridgetop miles among the most spectacular in New York State with open views of the Catskills and High Point.

Until recently, the SRT shared Long Path trail markers. Many hikers found it confusing for a Long Path marker to be on the SRT. With the redesign, we developed the Shawangunk Ridge Trail logo as a sister brand to the Long Path, thus picking up on the visual cues such as the continuous encompassing circle and typographic treatment. So be on the lookout this winter as volunteers will be installing the new trail markers that Enzo Creative designed.

Posted by: Enzo Creative | Posted in Design & Branding, News & Announcements Tagged brand, Branding, Enzo Creative, graphic design, NY-NJ Trail Conference |

Friday
November 18th

Free Website Redesign Checklist

A free 50+point checklist to get your website redesign project off to a smart start.

Beyond the need for your business to have a website – beyond the design, the content and the programming bells and whistles that compete for the end user’s attention – as a business owner or marketing director there are a host of other items you need to be aware of to make the entire process as smooth and delay-free as possible, while also ensuring that your website operates at peak efficiency and productivity. Rest assured, there are clients who are not fully prepared for the undertaking, and not all web design studios pay close attention to the back-end development that makes one website superior to another.

Enzo Creative not only designs exceptionally creative and intuitive websites, we also fully understand the back end of the web development process and the crucial role it plays in your website’s overall performance and positioning.

As evidence, we’re pleased to provide the following Website Redesign 50+ Point Checklist to help guide you as you prepare materials and authorizations for your new or redesigned website. We’ve also included a checklist of the items we pay attention to so that you’ll know in advance what to expect as your site proceeds through design and development. Here’s what you’ll want to have available to you before you approach the launch of your new or redesigned website:

1. Web Prep Checklist – Client. This checklist contains the basic items that you’ll need to address and/or gather as the client before giving the go-ahead to the web design studio.

2. Enzo Creative Website Redesign Checklist – Studio. This checklist covers our responsibilities and includes the many back-end technical aspects that can greatly impact a website’s ultimate user experience, site performance and searchability. Whether we are working with a small business or a large one, this is the default checklist that Enzo Creative refers to for every website we design and program.

If you have any questions, give us a call and we’ll be happy to assist you. You can also use this form.

Posted by: Enzo Creative | Posted in Business Tips, News & Announcements Tagged design studio, Enzo Creative, free checklist, Questions to ask designers, web design, website design, website redesign, website redesign checklist |

Thursday
November 3rd

Don’t count on a search for “web design nj” to return the best designer for your project

With so many web and graphic designers out there keyword stuffing “web design nj” and “graphic design nj” to try and claim a top spot in the search results, we thought we should discuss the quality of the results you may find when “googling” these terms. Frankly, not everyone gets lucky and finds Enzo Creative.*

First of all, we’re always surprised at how few, if any, of these so-called “creative” design companies are actually designing original sites. By that we mean a site that is designed with your business and its specific needs and markets in mind. It’s not enough to have a web presence. Your site should be constructed in a way to maximize visitor engagement. It should entice visitors to spend some time on your site to learn more—ideally even call or click for more information or respond to your call to action.

We’re always surprised at how few, if any, of these so-called “creative” design companies are actually designing original sites.

The fact is many of the designers your web search returns will use the same cookie-cutter templates over and over again for every website they produce. What’s worse, even though template-based websites are as cheap as they look, that doesn’t mean the cost savings will get passed on to you. These off-the-shelf templates rarely succeed for legitimate businesses because their structure and navigation are so common and generic. They’re simply not designed with your end users in mind. Did we mention the possibility of another business having the identical site? These are just a few of the problems you can expect if you choose the wrong design studio to build your web presence–not to mention the damage a poorly designed site can inflict on your brand.

Another thing to beware of is how long these web designers will be in business.

We’ve added several new clients who initially called us because their web designers or admins went missing in action. In every case these clients had a difficult time gaining access to their domain name or hosting account. Then there are other issues that go missing along with the designer like the “layered” files that are utilized to create the art for your site. It’s a big headache for all concerned, except, of course, the long-gone culprit who disappeared into thin air.

So how do you decide which designer to hire?

When searching for a web or graphic design company begin with a local level search. It’s likely to yield some credible results but, seriously, since you want to get the job done right the first time, you really should just contact Enzo Creative first! (Okay, that’s enough stuffing from us.)

*Speaking of stuffing, have a happy Thanksgiving!

You can see our work and case studies here. We list candid descriptions of the projects and the outcome because we care about the ROI for our clients.

Posted by: Enzo Creative | Posted in Business Tips, Design & Branding Tagged brand, design studio, Enzo Creative, graphic design, web design, web design nj, website design |

Tuesday
October 25th

Design Studio Treats Clients and Prospects to Tricky Halloween Promotion

The front of our promotional display card with voodoo dude.

Summit, NJ – A New Jersey web design and graphic design studio employed a bit of Halloween black magic and voodoo to help it cut through the clutter of new business self-promotions. Enzo Creative of Summit, NJ reached out with a devilishly witty mailing series that promised to “cast a spell” on client prospects.

The mailings comprised of a postcard teaser followed by a cardboard “coffin” mailer toting a bug-eyed voodoo dude and an intricately die cut pop-up display touting the studio’s services.

“We elected to leave no cliché unturned and went full bore with all of the mystical metaphors. So far, the folks who received the promotion definitely got a kick out of it,” said Lou Leonardis, Enzo Creative’s owner.

To further engage client interest, Enzo Creative invited recipients to take a photo of the voodoo dude in some creative setting and post it to the design studio’s facebook page. “We expect the images will represent a wide range of photographic styles, from beauty shots suitable for a zombie modeling agency, to outlandish caricatures depicting the little fellow engaged in all sorts of hijinks,” Leonardis said.

If you’d like to request a copy of the promotion, contact Enzo Creative at (908) 219-4703 or email voodoo@enzocreative.com. (We’re sorry, but we are all out of the voodoo dudes. You can see more of them on our Facebook page.)

You can read more about this Halloween promo project in our Work section.

Halloween postcard. 11x6 with deckled edge and handmade typography.

The Halloween voodoo dude, including hang tag, in the box.

The back of our promotional display card. The card is custom die cut.

Posted by: Rich Lehmann | Posted in Design & Branding, In the Media, News & Announcements Tagged Die cut, digital printing, Enzo Creative Facebook, graphic design, Halloween, Promotional Design, Summit NJ, voodoo doll, voodoo dude |