The holiday season is in full-effect in Austin, TX! From the Trail of Lights at Zilker Park to the shops at 2nd Street District, it’s very merry all around. With colder weather and festive feelings comes seasonal specials on warm drinks and sweet treats. We looked into some of the best local coffee shops and bake shops to get the inside scoop on seasonal specials. We’ve listed a few dessert spots perfect for date night and coffee shops for those quick caffeine kicks before work.

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As we approach the holiday season, it is important we understand the power of the holidays on our businesses sales. This year alone the National Retail Federation expects sales in November and December to generate $678.75 billion. This is the season for shopping and attracting new customers—don’t miss out on your perfect chance to reach your target audience. Follow these simple steps for the perfect holiday marketing strategy.

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The holidays are upon us, and there’s no better way than spending the season celebrating at the most beautiful venues and events the city has to offer. From long-time traditions to new holiday pop-ups, these events are perfect for ringing in the holiday cheer with the ones you love. Check out our curated list of Christmas events taking place in Austin throughout the month of December—these are some you won’t want to miss!

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Festivities and events are in full swing with the holidays right around the corner, and as a full-service marketing agency, we are well aware of the design and print needs of most companies during this time of the year. HMG Creative is offering major savings on high-quality design work and commercial printing throughout the month of December as events and company parties continue to creep closer and closer. Continue…

Texans are finally moving away from shorts and sandals, to pants and sweaters. Winter is coming, and it’s time to have some fun. Although Texas does not have the snow you’d find in the Northern states which means you won’t be seeing any down jackets and ear muffs but families can still get into the holiday spirit with fun activities around Austin. Whether you want to take a stroll to soak in the pretty Christmas lights, or you are looking for a more structured activity, there is something for everyone this December. Continue…

Web design has changed exponentially since the advent of web 2.0 in the early 2000’s. What used to be static-only websites have now been replaced with dynamic ones that incorporate many design features including widgets, social plugins and much more. Here are 12 tips to keep in mind when building or rebuilding your website.

1.  Show value– give people a reason to visit your site and keep them there.

2.  What does your website do? Are you informative, are you selling something? Include a call of action and let it be seen on the site!

3.  Simplicity– Keep it simple while still getting your point across.

4.  Myspace is out! That means no blinking text or magic cursors!

5.  Popups– Do I really have to explain this?

6.  Keep the home page accessible. I’ve been to many sites where once I click a link on the navigation bar, I cannot get back to the home page- so frustrating!

7.  Follow in Apple’s shoes and drop Adobe Flash– it’s processor heavy and there’s no place to embed SEO.

8.  I KNOW THIS MAY SOUND DUMB BUT DON’T CAPITALIZE ALL OF YOUR CONTENT.

9.  Speaking of words and content, check your grammar and spelling please!

10.  Use keywords and descriptive text that relates to your business. However, don’t over-embed keywords in your content- keep it natural.

11.  Be accessible, yes add a Contact page and put an email, phone number, something!

12.  Navigation is key! Keep a global navigation bar that allows accessibility to all of your pages.

I know the post reads “12 Tips” but I’m throwing in a BONUS, yay! 

13.  Social media integration- the key to the popularity and national/global success of your website and business.

If you’ve never heard of this odd application before, never fear (I was just introduced to it a few months ago)!  Once you get started, it’s a piece of cake.  For those of you that love organization, it’s a wonderful tool for you to manage all of your social media platforms in one easy place.  Although there are a few different types of HootSuite accounts, the version we will be investigating will be the basic account.

So let’s start with the basics.  All you need to do is go to hootsuite.com and create an account.  This doesn’t require much but an email, name and password.

Once you’re logged in, you’ll start by adding a social network.  As you can see, the three networks you are initially offered are Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.  By clicking on “add a different social network”, you are given many more options, such as: Google+, foursquare, WordPress, MySpace and mixi.

Choose the account you wish to sync first, allow HootSuite permission to that account and voila!  You should see something like this:

You can either compose or schedule a message by clicking in the “Compose message” box.  You will need to select your account by searching in the box which is right next to message composition.  To schedule, choose the calendar icon and pick your desired date and time.

If you would like to make any changes or view your scheduled items, choose the arrow icon located on the far left Dashboard.

To add on additional accounts.  Select the “+” tab at the top of the page.  You will then see the option to “Add Stream.” With the basic account, you are allowed up to FIVE different streams.  (Other accounts will allow for more streams depending on the price.)

You should now be able to complete the basic functions of HootSuite!  Can I get a woot, woot?!  If you’d like to learn more, you can always check out the free online tutorial they offer every member or contact us and we’d be happy to help.  Good luck!

I can’t think of a better way to spread Christmas cheer than by recognizing nine of our current and previous clients who we are so very thankful for and, to be honest, just ROCK at what they do:

Bannerot Law Firm
The firm provides clients with a variety of legal services which include Business Law, Wills & Estate Planning, Texas Probate, Intellectual Property Licensing, Entertainment & Sports Law, as well as Litigation.  We have provided the Bannerot Law Firm with:
– Printing
– Website Redesign
(Check out a preview of the new website we’re working for them!)

Kelle Contine Interior Design
Kelle Contine Interior Design is a professional full service interior design firm providing clients with innovative and appropriate solutions.  We have provided Kelle Contine with:
– Web Development

One Star Foundation
OneStar Foundation supports the nonprofit sector of Texas and its stakeholders through initiatives that increase civic engagement, research, rigorous evaluation, and nonprofit organizational excellence.  We have provided OneStar with:
– Branding
– Press Release
– Website Redesign

PrimoDish
PrimoDish is a group of developers that love food and thought there needed to be a place where you can easily find the best food around.  We provided PrimoDish with a:
– Website Redesign/UX
(Check out the new website we’re currently building them!)

Quick Fix Stock Charts
QFSC is an online resource that provides insightful and annotated stock charts while enabling you to make time-sensitive, decisive, money management decisions.  We provided QFSC with:
– Branding
– Custom Email Templates
– Press Release
– Printing
– Web Design and Development

RetailMeNot
RetailMeNot rates every single coupon and then orders it by its usefulness.  Every store is then categorized and ordered by its popularity within that category.  Their users ensure that the best deals quickly rise to the top, and expired or superseded coupons quickly drop down the list.  We provided RetailMeNot with:
– Web Development

Shango
Shango is a cloud platform that enables service providers to more easily cloud-enable their services and provide them more easily to their wholesale channels.  We provided Shango with:
– Business Card Design
– Printing

Spontuneous
Spontuneous, created by Mr. Rob Ridgeway, is an award-winning board-game that brings your favorite song lyrics to life.  The fun family game brings your favorite song lyrics to life and can forever change the way you listen to music.  We provided Spontuneous with:
– Custom Email Templates
– In-Store Promo Signs, Banners, Flyers
– Printing
– Web Development

Taylor Linens
Founded in 1922, Taylor Linens produces quilts that are made of 100% cotton fabric and batting that are often hand quilted with fine, close stitches.  We provided Taylor Linens with:
– Custom Email Templates
– Printing
– Print Collateral (product hang tags, post cards, stickers)
– Web Design and Development

The Client List: 4 Types of Clients, Pain Points and How to Deal

At HMG, we love our wonderful family of clients and customers. But, like any large family, there are a few that can, well, drive you a little crazy. Throughout my time working at PR, advertising and creative agencies I have noticed a distinctive trend in some of the “problem child” clients that take extra time, energy and effort to work with. While there are dozens of categories and sub-categories like law of attraction (I can’t wait to read the comments!), I have done my best to narrow down the 4 most common, and troublesome, types of clients that make Account Managers across the country face-palm almost every day.

1.     The Defensive Line
Think 260+ lbs., Texas born and bred defensive players.  Their goal? To keep the offense from proceeding down the field, of course.  And this is exactly how most of us feel when faced with a Defensive Line client. These clients or individuals tend to halt any forward progress you and your agency tries to make on their behalf. But they hired you, right? Last you checked you were the expert on hand to provide guidance on communications and lead the company to new, exciting territory. Well, not always.  Frustrations and confusion almost always accompany this type of client as agencies feel they are working against, not with your efforts.

Telling Signs:  Emails including the phrases: “This looks great, but..” “This is a little too much change for us.” Or “Let’s stick with what we already have in place.”

Symptoms: Stillborn campaigns, Account Executive migraines from beating on desk, drained agency hours with nothing to show, bi-polar or apathetic creative team

Remedy: Remember that you are on the same team. Try to understand and communicate with the client on intentions when creating a new strategy or creative direction. The client either wants the assurance of your capabilities (should they finally commit to change), is appeasing a task from higher up for new ideas or at the end of the day is protecting a brand that they built and a shift will be incremental, if any.  If the client appreciates and likes your work, congrats. They know your value. I guess the questions for the agency would be: Is having a solid offense strategy enough or are you tired of standing on the sidelines in this game?  Regardless, identifying and understanding this client is key to a stress-free relationship.

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Ah, the infamous Fifth Day of Christmas. I don’t know about you, but this might be the only part of the (original) song that I can actually remember every time.  But in the case of these Five Content Creation Rules, not rings, I encourage you to commit these to memory as well!

I’m sure you’ve already heard the saying, “Content is King,” but what does that really mean?  It all began with content as the key for search engine optimization and the huge role it played in positioning your company as an industry resource. Then came the rise of social and the need to push consistent communication. Creative tactics emerged through micro-sites and with social media popularity exploding, brands had to compete with the thought-leaders or become obsolete in the marketplace.

1.  Know Your Audience
Let’s be real.  If you don’t know who you’re trying to reach there’s no use in creating content at all.  Know who you’re writing for. Is it women ages 24-40 or men ages 60 and older? Decide who your audience is and then learn everything you can about them.  Find what questions they have, what motivates them and what they like. THEN, create your content.

2.  Tell a Story
Tell a story that is personable, approachable, tangible and memorable.  For example: Every year, The Hartford sponsors the Paralympics, and just last year the company decided to tell this story. They launched a media and video campaign through the medium of Facebook highlighting the athletes themselves. The result was a very successful and emotional story connecting with people on an individual and very personal level.

3.  Limit the Fluff
The average attention span is very, very short. You need to get right to the point or you run the risk of losing the audience. Eliminate any unnecessary points to keep content concise and hyper-focused. If you’d like some additional examples on the process of un-fluffing, check out one of our previous blog posts on a similar topic!

4. Make it Shareable
The best way to get your content out there is to spread it across all appropriate mediums.  So making it easy for others to share your content should be a BIG priority. Try to think of a blog that doesn’t prominently display social sharing buttons. It’s tough, right? That’s because most people won’t go out of their way to share your content so just make it simple!

5.  Say What You Know…
…and not what you sell. Customers are not looking to read your blog or micro-site to see what you sell, they can view that in a catalog or on the products and services tab on your site. They are interested in what you know and what you stand for. It’s time to start communicating as a trusted and relevant source and not as a sales script. Storytelling is the new content marketing.

See where your expertise and your customer’s interests overlap to tap into your niche. Tell a unique story and communicate in a way that no other competition can touch.