Social media is an ever growing part of our lives. It has changed the way we view the world, communicate, and keep up with information. It offers unparalleled opportunities to engage with customers, build brand awareness, and drive business growth. As important as this message is, how do you choose which platform to start [...]
Stating the obvious, 2020 was a year to remember (or preferably, one we all would like to forget). The pandemic was devastating to many businesses, especially small and mid-sized ones. Some didn’t make it and are now closed for good. However, among chaos comes innovation as businesses look for new ways to market and sell [...]
In the world of graphic design, how to put a price on a project is one of the most difficult things to do for a designer. As creative’s, our brains are just not wired that way. We love the creative process, but putting a value to it can be overwhelming. The first step is to [...]
Let’s face it; if you have a business, marketing is an essential component for success. Whether you are selling a service or a product, you need to tell people about it. That’s where the use of good marketing tools plays a huge role. The first step is to identify who you’ll want to sell to. [...]
Happy New Year everyone! Well, 2018 has come in and brought along some extremely cold temperatures here in East Central Illinois. It was minus 11 degrees this morning. Other than the cold, I'm especially excited about the upcoming year. The Thunderstruck team and I have several new initiatives on the agenda for 2018. To name [...]
Early last Friday morning, the Thunderstruck Team (+ one) visited the University of Illinois Fire Service Institute upon the invitation of Jill Sauer. She gave us a personal tour of the facility and we had the opportunity to witness RIT training first hand. Instructor Jeffrey Kraft from the Chicago Fire Department was also on hand [...]
After two long years, Illinois lawmakers finally passed a state budget. But not without a 5 billion dollar tax increase. Once again, taxpayers like you and I shoulder the financial burdens of this state thanks to our elected officials. Thank you very much. With the passed budget comes a 67% increase to businesses, up from [...]
Being creative means feeling like none of your ideas are creative. Seriously, it’s like a rule. Here’s the thing, being creative is harder than one might think. Actually, no… being creative isn’t the hard part; convincing yourself that your idea is creative and good enough is what’s difficult. It’s like no matter what we [...]
Just yesterday, Heather Sinclair, who was my first hire at Richard Newman Associates when I served as their art director, stopped by and handed me these pieces that she had in her file. Wow, talk about taking a walk back memory lane! The year... 1985... these pieces were part of a three-part marketing campaign for the [...]
Approach for Using Social Media to Help Launch Our New Website: What do you do when you have an event to promote? A countdown of course! Our plan of action was to start one month before with a vague and mysterious post about something BIG that's coming. Then we would wait until two weeks before reminding [...]
In honor of this past Father's Day, I would like to share a letter written to me by my daughter Leah when she was just a little girl in middle school. The letter was part of a class assignment where the students were asked to choose someone for "Outstanding Person of the Year". They could choose famous [...]
It's no secret that the Wendy's Twitter account is one of the best out there. They have taken engaging with customers to a whole new level! Wendy's started to shake things up in 2017 when someone decided to try and call them out on their "fresh, never frozen" tagline. Boy, was that a mistake! Little did [...]
This my friends is a proportion wheel. It was used in the time before computers to calculate scaling of graphic design elements such as images, height and width of design elements and more. How it works is very simple: just measure the design element you would like to scale (up or down); use one of [...]
Is Social Media Marketing worth the time? Social media isn’t really a new thing, but maybe for your business it is. Marketing on social media platforms can seem like a foreign concept, and sometimes doesn’t even seem worth the effort. So, is it worth the time and energy to use social media as a marketing [...]
In the creative business we are constantly confronted with deadlines and quick turn-arounds which can be very stressful on creative people. Sometimes the ideas ‘flow’ quickly, often times they do not. Creativity can be a struggle. That’s why it’s important to take a break every 90 minutes or so and just have a little fun. [...]
Hi, I’m Rod, the owner of Thunderstruck… but it’s not about me… it’s the team that makes this place special! I’m originally from the beautiful hills of Wheeling, West-By-God-Virginia… and I got to get back at least a couple of times a year to get my “hill fix”. I moved out here an eternity ago, and [...]
Hey, I’m Abby, but my friends call me Gail. (I guess that makes me Abigail.) I’m a graduate from the University of Illinois where I received a B.S. in Advertising. After finishing my undergraduate degree, I went on to get a Graphic Design Certificate from Parkland College. After interning here at Thunderstruck last summer, I [...]
When I started my business back in 1995, one of the hardest things I had to learn was how to sell. I had to sell my ideas and concepts to my clients. I had to make those cold calls that everyone dreads. It wasn’t easy, and I hated doing it. I thought I would just [...]
Establishing a Strong Company Image (This article is an excerpt from a marketing workshop presented to the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce) In today’s global economy, your brand image is your handshake with the world. Through the internet, we can communicate with individuals and businesses half way around the world in an instant. It’s imperative [...]
What lights you up? What interests do you have that you could do them all day… effortlessly? And now for the big question: Is this what you are doing currently? Entrepreneurs know how to turn their passions into business. They find what they love to do and then dive in 100% and turn their dreams [...]
When developing a direct marketing campaign, it’s a good idea to think in a much broader scope than a single media approach. Research has shown that using a select choice of multiple media, referred to as cross-channel marketing, can greatly increase your customers and prospects response rate… often as much as 35%. Today, many marketers [...]
(NOTE: The following article is based upon a presentation at the 2013 HOW Design Conference by Johnny Cupcakes, a.k.a. Johnny Earle) On a cool and rainy Monday evening in San Francisco this past Summer, I had the pleasure to listen to a dynamic presenter and entrepreneur… Johnny Cupcakes. For those of you who might not [...]
For the past several years, I have served as the Community Service Director for my Rotary Club, C-U Sunrise in Champaign. Part of my role includes working with the Volunteer Services Chair and Committee to develop some volunteer opportunities for our club members. This got me thinking about the many local businesses that contribute so [...]
The face of marketing and communications are constantly changing. Developing technology is a driving force behind how we interact with customers. Think about it, in just the past year alone, we’ve seen an explosion of QR codes being used on everything from ads to business cards to signs. NOW, HOLD ONTO YOUR HAT… there is [...]
Here’s a news flash, the Great Recession is over. However, the effects still linger. It’s a different world now and the fallout continues to trickle down. There are some positives that came from this event, providing your company survived it, and that’s the fact that it opened our eyes to how high off the hog [...]
When hiring a design company or graphic designer to work on a specific project or campaign, many details need to be brought to light before beginning. Fortunately, a good design firm or designer will know what to ask to help make the process easier for the client. Typically, we question clients to get a good [...]
When beginning your next marketing project, do you ever think of the “design strategy?” This is an industry term among graphic designers usually spoken when we first begin the process of gathering information about a specific project or campaign. When we speak of a strategy, it refers to putting together a plan to achieve an [...]
Print Specifications and Bid Evaluation In last month’s article, we covered how to identify and select the right printer for your print job. This month’s article covers basics on how to specify your print project in terms your printer can understand and how to compare your printing bids once they have been received. Once you [...]
Selecting and working with printers When managing a print project, you need to know some of the capabilities of many printers. Each project is unique, and based on types of equipment and other factors, certain printers may be better suited for the job than others. Having two to three primary printers in different categories can [...]
