Una Boyle (left) & Chris Goodwin meet at beachdog.com to plan LBPVB Membership Drive 2011

Una became Executive Director of the LBPVB just about the same time Keleigh started beachdog.com.  Neither can believe how far both organizations have come–or that they’ve been at the business of promoting the Peninsula together for 13 years!

Chris is now the Data Coordinator for LBPVB, and an excellent one at that.  She and our very own Karl, who created the LBPVB databases, work together throughout the year to fine tune and improve both process and product.

While membership runs for the calendar year, the Visitors Bureau will run their 2011 membership drive from the Monday following Rod Run  (September 13th) through the end of the month.  Why so early?

Because of the Beach Vacation Planner.  We’re proudly producing the Planner again this year.  In order to get it produced, produced, printed and perfectly in the hands of those who begin vacation planning at the first of the year, we need all the member information the first week of October.

The print run is now at 75,000 copies which largely go off-peninsula, a lure piece to help people choose our beach as a vacation destination.  All LBPVB members receive a business listing in the guide and are eligible to buy full-color display ad space.

Ads are incredibly low-priced.  In fact, our fellows who produce similar guides in other communities tell us we’re nuts to sell ads so inexpensively.  Our distribution model is more targeted than many and our cost per impression is less than .008¢!  We’re able to make display ads inexpensive because the LBPVB and the City of Long Beach subsidize the guide.  Talk about a benefit of membership!

So watch for your renewal invoice on September 14th if you’re already a member of the LBPVB and be sure to get it back on time so you’re not left out of the Planner.  If your business is not a member, NOW is the time to stop in and change that!  If you’re interested in display ad space, contact Keith (keith@beachdog.com or 360-642-4431).

Once all the member information is verified for the Beach Vacation Planner, we start updating member information on funbeach.com, which is the most valuable marketing avenue Peninsula business owners can buy.  And, listing on the site is FREE for members, with links and other add-on advertising opportunities remaining INSANELY inexpensive by industry standards.

Don’t miss out!  Join or renew with the LBPVB today!

You can reach LBPVB at 360-642-2400 or:

• Executive Director Una Boyle  una@funbeach.com
• Assistant to the Director  vicki@funbeach.com
• Member Services:  chris@funbeach.com
• Volunteer Services:  joanne@funbeach.com
• Visitor Services:  ask@funbeach.com

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Hands Down, The MOST VALUABLE Marketing Peninsula Businesses Can Buy

Here it is, in blackline, grayscale and full color:

Next came the business and appointment cards, conveniently dual-purposed as one, two-sided card:

Finally, their rate card, which is really fun at 5 inches square instead of a traditional brochure shape.

J.D.’s signs recently finished interpreting our art for a sign and it looks GREAT!  You can see it yourself on Pacific Highway, in front of Marsh’s Free Museum in downtown Long Beach.  Esteem is on the north side of Marsh’s.

Congratulations on the successful launch of your new Salon & Spa, Jami & Tessah!

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Esteem Salon & Spa

Recently taking on a partner and naming the company Affordable Roofing & Construction, John stopped by a couple of months ago and asked me to design a business card that could double as a logo.  He knew he wanted to use the color blue and had a sketch of a letter ‘A’ turned into a house.  No problem!  I gave John a draftsman-like font and added a chimney to the A, using white for the main field color and blue stripes to give it color ‘pop’ and strength, while limiting the palette for less expensive reproduction.  Once John and his partner had signed off on the art, I put it on a CD in multiple file formats so he could use the art with other vendors.  Within weeks, I was seeing the look on trucks and signs all over the Peninsula, and hanging over their shop door in Ocean Park.

Most recently, I created a 2-part carbonless, consecutively numbered quote/work order form for the company.   It’s gratifying when clients let me show them how they can save money by first brainstorming without thought of budget and then putting the parts together in a way that makes best use of their resources and in an order that makes sense.  Because John told me about the variety of projects he had in mind before we started, that he had the time and inclination to work with vendors himself, and that he wanted to keep the cash flow as tight as possible, his art developed in a way that best leveraged his resources to meet his goals.

By letting one shop (ours) give him art for other vendors, he keeps his art production costs in check as multiple graphic designers aren’t starting from scratch.

By starting with a logo, and getting clear about its important elements (in this case, the font, colors and stripes), John was able to keep his brand consistent as he quickly moved through a variety of collateral projects.  In other words, he got more bang for his buck because he was smart–not with deep pockets.

Way to brand on a budget, Affordable Roofing & Construction!

–Keleigh

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Case Study: Branding on a Budget

We do our best to meet people where they want to be met in the marketing process.  Take the two brochures, below.

The one on the left, Willapa Harbor Scenic Highway 101 Willapa Heritage Corridor, was a project of Raymond High School senior Mitchell Hatfield.  He did a great job designing the brochure.  Keleigh helped him get the work from Publisher into a format an offset printer could use, then offered subsidized pricing to get them printed by the Willapa Harbor Chamber of Commerce and Dennis Company.  Pick up a copy at either the Willapa Harbor Chamber office or the Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau and see if you can find all of the 400+ steel sculptures in the area!

The Astoria-Warrenton Chamber designed a brochure or their upcoming Ambassadors & Greeters Convention and just needed someone to take their art and quickly turn it into a short run of tri-fold brochures at a good price.  Done and done!

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Are you a DIY brochure designer?

Have you been to the Lost Roo yet?  After much anticipation, the restaurant opened earlier this summer.  Reviews have been great! Just as the new restaurant was seating its first patrons, we launched their new website.

Of course, Kanga & Joey’s page are popular here at beachdog.com, but site statistics tell us the rest of you prefer looking at the menu.

Go for a beer and a game, or for a great meal with the family.  You’ll be glad you did!

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Do you Roo?

“Are you sure she said I could do anything I want?” Keleigh asked Sue after reading the job jacket.

Gay loved the results.  What do you think?

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Meet Dave & Gay Weston

Sign makers of John Edwards’ era, craftsmen who hand-letter and understand first-hand the need for limited text, white space, and fonts tall enough to read at a distance…or at a drive-by speed, are hard to come by these days.  We met John after he had translated a few of Keleigh’s logo designs into signage for our shared clients.  He liked our work and decided to come to us for his business cards.

John creates hand-painted wood signs as well as cutting vinyl and screen printing for a variety of substrates.  He’s quick to say he’s not a designer…but now he knows one!

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Experienced Sign Painter, Ocean Park

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Most infamous?

While budget full-color printing is certainly something we do well, we’re incredibly proud that we don’t sacrifice quality to get the low pricing our customers enjoy.  We have relationships with a number of fine print shops and we match the job to the shop. The less waste–whether it’s excess paper trimmed because of the size of sheet the press takes or lavish time in setting up a press to run a custom job–the lower the cost and the better for the planet.

You’ve read, here on our blog, about how passionate we are about buying locally sourced goods and services when it is reasonable.  We are avid supporters of the 3/50 project and do our best to strengthen the economy of the community in which we live.  We’ve found that most local merchants are happy to offer the products we buy at a comparable price and are always surprised when they can beat the price at the big box stores (Thanks, Dennis Company, for stocking our favorite dog food!).

It’s a balancing act, keeping awareness of one’s carbon footprint, keeping business local, stretching one’s dollar and finding exactly what you want (not to mention avoiding use of pesticides, recycling, remembering to bring our own bags to the store and ten thousand other things we all try to do!).  We’re far from perfect, that’s for sure!  Sometimes we print here in our own shop, because that’s the best balance point, and sometimes we send art to another shop , on or off the Peninsula.

As a customer, you can rely on us for giving you the best solution we can, based on what we know about your buying preferences.  Sometimes, price is the deciding factor.  Sometimes, it’s the highest of quality, and sometimes it’s making your project as green as possible.  Usually, it’s somewhere in the middle. We love questions about what we can do and will always seek to find you the best fit based on your needs–not ours.

Why am I waxing on this particular topic today? Because it’s what I think of when I think of the Commercial Fishermen’s Festival (CFF) projects we’ve completed.  CFF is an event.  Events are typically run by non-profit organizations that are notoriously low-budget so price tends to drive a lot of decisions, with green and ‘keep it local’ concerns coming in next, followed by print and paper specifications and quality.

The cards above, and most of our full-color card projects, print on a gang-run press.  That means they are part of a BIG sheet of other people’s full-color card projects.  Since everyone shares the cost of setting up the press, the cost for small quantities becomes really very reasonable. We’re able to select FSC Certified (green) papers and the gloss is an environmentally friendly aqueous coating.  It’s a great fit for many budget-minded projects.

In the 8 or so years we’ve been working with this particular press, we’ve done hundreds of jobs had four problems that I recall.  The blue cards above were one of them.  Simply, they got cut and boxed before the gloss coating had fully dried.  As a result, cuts were uneven and the cards stuck together.  UGH!  Worse, we broke our own protocol to inspect all products before they releasing them to the customer and our client saw the problem before we did (20 lashes with the tongue of an old, smelly dog for us!).  I’m happy to report the cards were promptly replaced and our client remains both gracious and content.

You don’t need to sacrifice quality, price, color, paper, environment, locale… anything.  You just need someone who knows enough about the industry to help you find the right balance point for YOU. We’d like to help.   Give us a woof. 360-642-4431

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On Fishermen & Finding Balance

The game’s been online just over a month now and is already the second most popular page of their site.  After playing, site visitors are sticking around to look at other pages, and they’re sharing the site with friends – our two goals for the game.  We’re planning the next game already, and this time we’re going to let Keleigh do the graphics.

Winning the game nets you a nice coupon.  Winning level two nets an even nicer coupon.

Have you played yet?

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Dennis Duck’s Shooting Gallery