Guava Graphics

Facebook Timeline – Judging a Book By It’s Cover

admin — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 01:31:59 +0000

On Wednesday, Facebook announced the new Timeline layout for Fan pages. While there are so many new features and other controversial changes, one of the most conspicuous changes is the new Timeline Cover. At 850 by 315 pixels, it’s hard to miss. It’s only natural for people to judge a person or a company by it’s appearance. First impressions are everything online, so here are a few points to consider when choosing or designing a cover image:

Size Matters – Be sure to use the entire space for your subject matter. If your a real estate agent, having a full resolution image of your city’s skyline makes a nice statement. Your mugshot does not. Save that for the profile pic.
Let Your Logo Shine – Think your Times New Roman font logo is still good enough for prime time. Think again – this is where it counts and it can stand out on your cover. If it’s not up to snuff, this is where your time is best spent.
Imitation is not Flattering – Chances are you’ll see your image again on Facebook if you just use a royalty free image or use someones cover idea. Don’t be shy. The photo you took on your iPhone of the Golden Gate Bridge will do the job.
Accessorize Your Profile Pic – Choose a profile pic that coincides with the theme of your cover photo. It’s clever and your would-be likers will love it. For example: Cover photo is a maze, profile pic is a mouse. Now that wasn’t so hard.
Design Design Design – Creating a custom cover page is a very focus task for a designer. If you choose to hire a designer to create a cover image for your business’ page, it won’t break the bank. Depending on your ideas and the scope, you could get a custom P ‘shopped image for a couple hours of design time.

Don’t wait to switch to the new layout. Facebook is constantly changing and that’s the nature of the social network.

Apple’s new iPhone 4S: Do we need it?

admin — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 19:00:58 +0000

The ads are great. There’s that shiny, new iPhone with an amazing list of new or improved hardware, software and features. Who wouldn’t want one?

But, wait. If you already own an iPhone, you may soon be getting some of those exciting advances. The reason is the new operating system will be a free upgrade to some other iPhones.

With the release of iPhone 4S comes the latest operating system, IOS5, which will be a free upgrade for all iPhone 4 and iPhone 3S phones. With it we can access iCloud and its wonderful syncing features (including photos, documents and presentations). Add or make a change in one place and – voila! – it’s on all your devices and is backed up on Apple’s iCloud servers.

Want to read internet articles without the ads? The upgraded Safari will allow it.

So, what does iPhone 4S have that the older phones don’t. There are four items of special note, especially the last two listed here:

Improved Retina display – iPhone’s already outstanding display gets even better
New 2-core A5 chip – Delivers twice the power and up to seven times faster graphics
New camera – Looking to buy a personal camera? The iPhone 4S is an outstanding choice. The lens is up to 8 megapixels, but probably more importantly, its size (aperture) is larger. That lets in more light, making picture quality and speed (aided by the new chip) fast. Add to that image stabilization, the pictures become even better. With the new lens, the quality of the HD video has risen from 50% from 720p to 1080p. Combine those items with new editing features, iCloud syncing and integrated “sharing” via messaging and email, and the iPhone becomes a desirable camera.
Siri, Apple’s intelligent assistant – Remember those science fiction films that showed people giving verbal instructions to robots and appliances? Some of that fiction is now fact with Apple’s new Siri iPhone software. Basically, Siri will repond to your commands or questions using all iPhone features and Apps, as needed. Therefore, Siri could be an excellent voice-activated, productivity tool. It will likely expand your usage of the iPhone’s capabilities beyond what you are used to using now. (Seeing is the best way to understand Siri’s capabilities, so be sure to click on the video below.)

A word about service providers

The count is now up to three: AT&T, Verizon and newly-added Sprint. While each have some “4G” service available, the “4” in iPhone 4 and 4S is unrelated. Both phones work on “3G” and wireless communication services.

How to make the decision

Really like that camera? Could you make good use of Siri’s intelligent assistant features? Then, the iPhone 4S is a good consideration. Otherwise, the iPhone 4 and 3S phones remain good business and personal tools, particularly with the coming IOS5 upgrade.

Of course, there is another decision coming – the rumored iPhone 5 that Apple is developing.

BirdBeat™ – Not Just for the Birds

Susan Venancio — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:51:34 +0000

Guava Graphics has recently completed development of the latest iPhone app for birders, and it simply rocks. BirdBeat™ Birder’s iField Notebook™ a revolutionary portable field observation and ID tool lets you quickly & accurately capture key visual info and field data about a bird to make a positive species identification. Developed for Heather KiNCH Studios in Encinitas CA, BirdBeat is one of the most unique products to come out of Guava.

The power behind this app are the original templates created by Heather Kinch, which allows the app user to quickly select, identify and capture visual, environmental and behavioral data…All on your iPhone. The App is compatible with iPhone 3Gs and iPhone 4. You can also run the app on your iPad with excellent results coming from a larger screen. A port to Android is coming soon.

For more information, visit BirdBeat.com and download the app today.

Business Email Signature Etiquette

Susan Venancio — Thu, 12 May 2011 19:51:44 +0000

Have you noticed that email signatures are getting longer and longer? Really! Why? We have so much content to digest each day, why does your email signature need to be so detailed, that’s what your website and social media networks are for. So, please keep your email signatures simple! For starters it’s a good idea to create multiple email signatures for your routine business email conversations. Here are few tips and ideas you can use: 1. Create a long email signature: To do this, a good rule of thumb is to try staying within 4-6 lines of text with 70-80 characters or less in each line for your fundamental default signature, which should include sufficient contact details for your recipient to view on a new email conversation. For example your long email signature should include:

Closing sentiment, like “Sincerely” or “Best Regards”
Your name
Title/Department
Company name
Best phone number(s) – office direct line/mobile are best, not more
Company website link, which will provide any additional details, such as business address, etc. Make sure it is easy to find on your website!
Optional business appropriate signature add-ons could also include your business motto, current promotable marketing and social media links to your blog, Facebook, and/or Twitter

2. Create a short email signature: Following similar rules, try staying within 2-3 lines, which will be used as a closing signature for any of your ongoing conversations. For example your short email signature should include:

Closing sentiment, like “Thank you”
Your name
Best phone number(s) – office direct line/mobile
Company website link

3. Create an internal email signature: Again following similar rules as the short email signature. Keeping in mind your coworkers do not need any of your contact information. To sign your internal company conversations try using:

Closing sentiment, like “Take care”
Your name
If you work for a large company, you may want to consider using your title/department / direct extention

Other general rules to follow when creating an email signature is to maintain the same font, bolding the font is acceptable, but changing the size and color is widely found to be obnoxious. No fancy creative formatting, please! When using social media buttons keep the pixel size to approximately 50×50, not larger. Also, when typing your website address you will need to include the “http://” to make sure the URL is recognized as a clickable link regardless of the recipients software or platform. The key is to make your signature simple, drive the recipient to your website where all the marketing and additional information can be found. After all, you want your website to do the selling and bragging, not your email signature. Cheers!

Gotta learn about Twitter

admin — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 15:38:19 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I got a “To Do List” of blog topics to write about. Great! Now, the day has come for me to write a blog about using Twitter for promotions. As usual with topics I’m not terribly familiar with, I go to the computer and do my do diligence researching the topic. As I dove into the research I realized that there is yet another evolving ecosystem I know very little about. It’s amazing! However, after hours of research, I finally realized that I needed to change the perspective of the blog from using Twitter for promotions to a “how to” Twitter for beginners. Cause, really … that would be me! Then after a couple more hours I finally figured it out. After hours of research here are my two Tweets on Twitter:

To know Twitter, is to use Twitter. Go to www.twitter.com, get started, like me.
To use Twitter, is to know you only have 140 characters to get the word out.

My journey also lead me to some interesting Twitter facts and figures Twitter shared at a Chirp conference in April 2010:

Twitter now has 105,779,710 registered users.
New users are signing up at the rate of 300,000 per day.
180 million unique visitors come to the site every month.
75% of Twitter traffic comes from outside Twitter.com (i.e. via third party applications.)
Twitter gets a total of 3 billion requests a day via its API.
Twitter users are, in total, tweeting an average of 55 million tweets a day.
Twitter’s search engine receives around 600 million search queries per day.
Of Twitter’s active users, 37 percent use their phone to tweet.
Over half of all tweets (60 percent) come from third party applications.
Twitter itself has grown: in the past year alone, it has grown from 25 to 175 employees.

It was also noted that most Americans are aware of Twitter and few are using it. (Hey, that’s me! But not for long.) That is called untapped potential. So, stay tuned or tune to http://twitter.com/guavagraphics to follow our Twitter community. Let see where this untapped potential Tweets us.

Easy Web – WordPress as CMS

admin — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 18:12:57 +0000

Wordpress (www.wordpress.org) has been around for quite while. Starting as a blog platform, it quickly grew to the viable CMS platform you see today. A Content Management System (CMS) is software that helps you organize and maintain your web content. WordPress offers a fantastic CMS that creates and manages your links, pages, and posts for your site. The free open source application has been developed to be user friendly and is the most popular platform. It is as easy to use as e-mail, Microsoft Word, and Facebook, which is perfect for the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) folks. Additionally, it saves you time and money, giving you the control. Using WordPress can have a huge web impact for any small to medium size business. Here’s a list of some of the high impact free tools WordPress has to offer:

Easy one click installation.
Content maintenance without knowing HTML.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is free, out of the box. Google loves WordPress!
Your site can grow with your business, enhanced functionality, features and security can be added at any time.
Support is easy to find, just look for Guava Graphics.

If you are interested in getting a professional website designed, supported or optimized, please call us.

Branding

admin — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 17:52:09 +0000

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a “name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers. The objectives of a good brand will:

Deliver your message clearly
Establish your credibility
Connect your targeted prospects emotionally
Motivate your buyer
Binds your buyer loyalty

To succeed in branding you must first understand the needs and wants of your buyers and prospects. This is how you want them to connect to your business; it’s what they will witness and be a part of every time they come in contact with your company. The big long-term picture is to have your brand live in the hearts and minds of your audience. Their experiences and perceptions of your brand will have a huge influence. Remember Take the time to research, define and build your brand. This is the backbone, an essential piece to your marketing strategy. The impact of a single pleasing image and a few well-placed words will help secure your vision.

Guava Business Solutions Launched

admin — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 17:44:23 +0000

Guava Graphics is proud to officially brand and launch the IT consulting and services branch – called Guava Business Solutions ( www.guavabusiness.com ). Guava Business Solutions, a division of Guava Graphics is a San Diego consultancy specializing in custom application development in open source and Microsoft technologies. Guava provides solutions in Agile Product Lifecycle Management upgrades and customization, custom application development, web development and strategy, Microsoft CRM and Sharepoint technologies. With Guava you can count on our expertise and experience. Visit Guava Business Solutions

Online Incentive Marketing Strategies

Susan Venancio — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 23:06:16 +0000

Online incentive marketing strategies are an affordable and powerful marketing tool. These are the online promotional contests such as, sweepstakes, giveaways and special offers companies use to get their customer’s attention. Going online with this type of marketing is taking over; it is quick and easy for the user and cost effective for your company, saving on postage, paper and printing costs. When planned well with clear goals your return on investment (ROI) is worth it. Online incentive marketing campaigns can be created for a small or large scale plan, something for any budget. Your promotional contest sweepstake, giveaway or special offer prizes can range from company logo items (pens/pencils) to coupons, gift cards, products and/or services and vacation destinations, just make sure that it is FREE. People love to win FREE stuff! The idea is to generate customer interest and enthusiasm. Campaigns that create a strong emotion (make your contestants laugh) will get recognized and passed along through the various channels; email and social media networks, etc. Here are 10 reasons to plan an online incentive marketing campaign:

Find future new customers
Increase website traffic
Build your marketing prospect list
Strengthen your loyalty with existing customer relationships
Immediate sales increases
Company gets exposure
Increases new/existing product or service exposure
Increase marketing research survey response rates
Improve product/services using contestant ideas
Testimonial responses

This is a great tactic to generate an online buzz for whatever you decide to promote. As said before: People love to win FREE stuff! This should be a win/win. To be sure of a win/win measure your efforts. You want your efforts to get the attention it deserves. Creating a landing page or a micro site will make it easy to track your measurable desired data. Best wishes for a successful online incentive marketing campaign. Cheers!

Online Reviews

Susan Venancio — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 21:42:49 +0000

The word of mouth has long been known as a powerful marketing tool. Have you considered using online reviews to spread the word? Reviews are very successful for Amazon. Why not use this marketing strategy for your business? Yelp offers a fantastic online review forum to market your company. This online marketing tool allows your customers to share their experience with your company by writing reviews, be it positive or negative. In addition you can communicate back and forth, post offers and announcements and add photos. And it’s free! For details take a look at http://www.yelp.com/business?country=US. This is another great tool to add to your marketing portfolio. It provides a great opportunity to listen and nurture your customer relationships. To get started, offer your customers an incentive to write a review. With their receipt or invoice, produce an invitation with the information needed to write the review, plus an incentive on the spot, like a freebie of some sort or coupon (Who does that? You just exceeded their expectations – that’s excellent!) And in your next e-newsletter or marketing e-mail invite your customer to write a review, give them a coupon incentive upfront too. Let everyone know that another special offer will be waiting on your Yelp profile. To make it an even better marketing experience, make it a habit of responding to all your reviews. Set time aside each day or week, depending on your review volume. Customers love to know that their review was noticed, even if the review was negative. Negative reviews are opportunities to improve what you do and often result in a more loyal customer. Word of mouth marketing is powerful. An online review forum makes it even more powerful. I hope you like this marketing tip and take advantage of it. Cheers!