O2 at Gears & Beers
We’re avid bikers at O2. We’ve even written about this before.
That’s why we’re excited for this weekend’s Gears & Beers enduro race at Granby Ranch.
We raced in the previous Gears & Beers event, which was so much fun we’re racing again tomorrow. Plus, it’s the last race of the season. Join O2 at Gears & Beers tomorrow!
The race consists of three different stages. Stage 1 is an uphill climb beginning at the base of Granby Ranch, climbing up a cross-country trail (exhausting), then a downhill ride back to the base. Stage 2 involves a ride up the lift to a tough traverse across the resort’s most technical cross-country trails, with lots of riding over rocks and through narrow forests. Stage 3 is a speedy downhill sprint, which really tests your balance – and your brakes. The race is an exciting challenge and an exercise in personal endurance (hence the name “enduro” race).
Of course, Gears & Beers wouldn’t be complete without…well, beers. The entry fee includes a burger and a beer after stage 3. And trust us, you earn every calorie!
For the mountain biking ladies, Granby Ranch is also hosting a “She-MTB” women’s bike clinic tomorrow too. All in all it stands to be yet another fun weekend of mountain biking at the Ranch, especially since the fall colors are in full effect.
It’s all part of the enjoyment of living in Colorado’s Favorite Playground. After a hard week’s work in the office, we love to get out and have some fun biking. Or camping. Or fishing. Or just playing with the dogs (p.s. there’s still time to vote Thumbelina for Grand Dog!)
What’s your weekend plans?
To contact O2 Creative, call us at 970-726-8021 or email [email protected].
Click here for our last blog: winter marketing
Winter marketing
Summer is gone, September is here, and the seasons are changing yet again in the Colorado Rockies. (Labor Day really just came and went?? How’d that already happen!) We even had a dusting of snow along the Continental Divide this morning.
With the summer tourist traffic winding down and shoulder season just around the corner, now is the time to think ahead to winter in Grand County. The snowy months mean skiing, snowboarding, and lots of other cold weather fun. They also mean some of the heaviest traffic of the year, which means the busiest time of the year for many local companies.
To be prepared for the winter season’s business boom, your business needs to begin planning its winter marketing today! Getting your marketing and advertising initiatives in place means you can be fully prepared to capitalize on the snowy season’s tourist traffic.
Good marketing takes time. There’s plenty of planning, research, and coordination that can go into a campaign, not to mention graphic design, production and printing that may be involved. Starting early also means you’ll have time to fine-tune your campaign; to get your marketing message just right. This will not only help you attract more customers once they start arriving this winter, it can also make your customers aware of your business before they even get here.
Want to attract new customers with some posters and flyers, or a social media campaign? Want to increase your brand awareness with promotional products? Want to improve your online presence with blogging and search engine optimization? To have these and other marketing initiatives ready for the winter season, start preparing today.
We at O2 are about to launch a little marketing campaign of our own: we’ll be sending out direct mailer postcards to our clients and leads.
These postcards are a friendly reminder to get your marketing lined up in time to make the most of the upcoming ski season. When you see them, remember to contact us so we can get started soon!
Whether you have something specific in mind, or you just need help creating some effecting marketing initiatives, we can help. Contact us at O2 to start planning your winter marketing today!
To contact O2 Creative, call 970-726-8021 or email [email protected].
Click here for our last blog: a year in the new office!
A year in the new O2 office
It’s officially been a year in the new O2 office. (A whole year? Where does the time go?!)
If you recall, a year ago we moved from the little cabin office on the one end of Eisenhower…
…to the bigger corner office on the other end.
So far, the new office has been everything we hoped for. It’s bigger, which gives us more space for creative projects and meetings with clients. It’s more comfortable, with our large meeting table and lounge area complete with couch. The corner location has also yielded us more walk-in traffic. The office’s interior is more colorful too, with our office walls painted the standard-issue O2 green.
The office has served us well over the seasons. We made it through the Rocky Mountain winter, though not without plenty of icicles.
Summer has been a different story. To stay cool, we’ve kept our door and windows open during the warmer months. However, whenever a breeze blows through the office, the ceiling tiles and light panels will move and shift with the wind. It’s quite a strange occurrence…especially when one of the lights fell!
The office was prone to getting toasty, especially during June and July. At one point Philip and Eric brought in a small air conditioning unit, which kept things a little cooler. Brad nicknamed the air conditioner R2D2, though we’re not sure why.
The office even endured a lightning strike recently. While quietly working one day we were interrupted by a deafening BOOM, which instantaneously took out the power in the office, and also took out the office printer. No worries though – we were back up and running by the next business day.
Overall, the first year in our new office has been great for us. Everyone has enjoyed the space, particularly the pugs, who especially like lounging on the couch.
Here’s to many more years to come!
To contact O2 Creative, call 970-726-8021 or email [email protected].
Click here for our last blog: writing tips from O2
Writing tips from O2
At O2, we write a lot. We write blogs for clients, write content for websites, write copy for advertisements, even write creatively in our free time. We recently discussed a few practical tips and tricks that have helped us become better writers, and we decided to post a few of the writing tips from O2 in this week’s blog:
Create an outline. Determine how you want to begin your written piece, how you want to present the main points, and how you want to conclude your work.
Take notes. If you come across a creative thought, write it down. You may have a great idea right now, but unless you make a note of it, you may not even remember it by the time you sit down later to write.
Use the fewest words possible. Try to keep your writing economical and to the point.
Let your imagination take over. Don’t hesitate to let a creative impulse take your work in an unexpected direction, especially in the initial draft stages.
Write a first draft. Your first draft is the most important, since this draft determines the ultimate direction of your writing. With that said…
Don’t sweat the first draft. Your first draft will never be your best, so don’t get upset if it just isn’t where you want it to be. Allow yourself time to revise your writing.
Sleep on it. After writing your draft, don’t be afraid to leave it be until tomorrow. Many of your best revisions are the ones you’ll make the next morning with a fresh mind.
Use a thesaurus. Sometimes finding the right word can make the difference between good writing and superlative writing. (Yup, we checked the thesaurus for that one.)
Proofread, over and over again! In addition to proofing your own work, have someone else proofread as well. It’s important to get a second set of eyes on a piece of writing.
Think about your audience. Consider who will be reading your work, and try to write in a voice that will communicate with them. Sometimes it even helps to imagine you are writing to a familiar friend.
Read it out loud. Hearing each word out loud will help you really understand the voice of your writing. This also helps you proof your work, since you can often catch those hidden errors when you hear the writing out loud.
Don’t get frustrated. If you’re experiencing the dreaded “writer’s block,” don’t try to force it. Just step away for a moment. Work on something else, go grab a fresh cup of coffee, or just take a walk to clear your mind.
Have fun with it, most importantly of all! Think of writing not as a homework assignment, but as a fun way to express yourself. Once you can really enjoy the writing process, you’ll become increasingly comfortable as a wordsmith, and your creative voice will really start to shine in your work.
These are just a few quick writing tips we discussed. There are certainly plenty of other tips, but this post is already getting a little lengthy. If you have any other tips you’d like to share, please do!
To contact O2 Creative, call 970-726-8021 or email [email protected].
Click here for our last blog: D&M’s promotional products mix
D&M’s promotional products mix
O2 recently had the pleasure of working with Grand County’s own D&M Roofing Company on some design work. Specifically, we created a comprehensive collection of promotional products for D&M – shirts, hats, water bottles, magnets, even a big banner. To ensure consistency in branding, we kept the logo design consistent across D&M’s promotional products mix – same font, same blue letters, same recognizable red roofing hammer.
Once the designs were determined, it was time to get creative with the promotional products themselves. First up were the hats: we selected a high-quality New Era trucker-style cap, custom embroidered with D&M’s logo. Here’s Sophie the O2 office pug proudly modeling a D&M roofing hat for us:
Next up, shirts. We created cool V-neck t-shirts complete with D&M’s logo on both the front and the back. The shirts, as well as the hats, can be used as uniforms for D&M’s employees or as promotional items for their clients.
We also created branded water bottles for D&M Roofing. Promotional products such as water bottles are great items to give to potential leads. These branded items help your leads remember your business, which can ultimately turn leads into customers.
Branded magnets were also in the mix. We created white oval magnets complete with D&M’s logo (a logo that you probably recognize by now – see, all this promotional products marketing really is working!). The magnets also feature D&M’s contact information, including their phone number and website. Here’s the O2 office refrigerator with D&M’s magnets on display:
Finally, a banner. We created a durable outdoor vinyl banner for D&M to display, again with the same familiar logo; again communicating the company’s contact information. Here’s O2’s Jaryd displaying the D&M banner while pensively gazing off into the distance:
The shirts, hats, magnets, banner, and bottles are all part of a consistent mix of promotional products we created for D&M Roofing. From retaining existing customers; to converting new ones; to increasing brand awareness at job sites, trade shows, and even around town; these promotional products are tangible items that D&M can now use to make the most of their marketing efforts.
Promotional products can work as marketing tools for just about any sort of business as well. To discuss the benefits of promotional products for your business, or to learn about all the different kinds of promotional products we can create for you, contact us at O2 or visit www.o2promo.com today!
To contact O2 Creative, call 970-726-8021 or email [email protected].
Click here for our last blog: the O2 dogs!
The O2 dogs
Anyone who knows O2 knows we’re dog lovers. We’re always enjoying time with our pups, whether we’re in the office, hiking about somewhere in Colorado’s Favorite Playground, or just out for a walk around Fraser. The O2 dogs are just as much a part of the operation as Philip, Eric, Jaryd, Brad, and our newest member Cynthia too.
Wylie, Sophie, and Thumbelina are Philip and Eric’s pugs (and “bugg,” a Boston terrier-pug mix), and are also the resident O2 dogs. These lovable little pups hang out in the office, faithfully putting in the long hours with the rest of us. While team O2 is working hard, the pugs are…well, hardly working.
Thumbelina is actually a burgeoning local politician. Grand County Pet Pals has an annual campaign to elect the Grand Dog of Grand County, and Thumb is a leading candidate in this year’s election. The Grand Dog campaign is actually a fundraiser to benefit Grand County Pet Pals and Advocates for a Violence-Free Community, so Thumbelina’s campaign efforts are going toward a great cause. Click here to vote for Thumb!
In addition to the pugs and buggs, there are even more cool canine friends on the O2 team. Jaryd has a dog of his own, a handsome lab-bulldog mix named Roscoe.
Jaryd and Roscoe are often out and about, hiking on the many trails throughout the Fraser Valley and Grand County.
Roscoe also loves to swim, and is never nervous about jumping into a Rocky Mountain stream or lake, no matter how cold the water might be.
Brad has even had a dog of his own around lately. This week he’s been dogsitting Kali while his friends are out of town. Kali is a basenji mix. A basenji an energetic African breed, which means Kali pretty much thinks she’s a lion.
Kali and Roscoe quickly became best buddies too, and are always excited for a puppy play date. Of course the only photo we can find of the two playing together is this one, with Roscoe is grinning like a goofball and Kali looking like she just did something bad.
The newest member of the O2 Team, Cynthia, is a dog lover too. Though she does not yet have a dog of her own, she hopes to get one some time in the near future. Until then, maybe Philip and Eric will let her take the pugs for a walk. Just keep an eye on Wylie!
To meet the O2 pugs – or the O2 humans, for that matter – stop by our office some time in downtown Fraser, Colorado. To contact us, give us a call at 970-726-8021 or email [email protected]. Until then, we at O2 hope you’re enjoying the dog days of summer!
Click here for our last blog on professional web design
Why your business needs a professional website designer
Nowadays, just about every business has a website. Not every website is created equal, however. The best businesses have the best websites, and the best websites are designed by professionals. There are lots of reasons why your business needs a professional website designer. Here are 5 quick reasons why:
Improves brand awareness and market presence. More and more these days, customers find businesses online. They’ll search for you on the Internet, which means your website is often the only chance you get to make a good first impression. For your market to think you’re a good professional business, you need a good professional website. A dated, ugly, poorly functioning website – or worse, no website at all – is an awful first impression to make.
Your website needs to look professional. You could try using a pre-designed amateur website template, but it’ll look just like that: amateur. If you want your business to appear professional, you need a website that has been designed by professionals. Speaking of…
Professional website designers design websites better. Professional web designers know web design inside and out. We do this stuff all the time! We can quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively design your website with every feature you might need: e-commerce, navigation features, social media integration, scrolling banners and photo albums…you name it! We at O2 can design mobile websites for your business as well, which will automatically display correctly on every sort of smart phone or tablet device. We can even provide website hosting too.
Saves you time and effort. Sure, you could try to design your own website. If you have no experience with web design or programming, however, the task is likely to be much more involved than you realize. Besides, if you’re a small business owner, your day-to-day operations are already enough to worry about. Let us design your website, so you can focus on operating your business.
Get search engine optimized. Your website won’t do much good if your customers can’t find it, which makes proper search engine optimization (SEO) critical to website design. Professional website designers can implement all the latest and greatest SEO tools and techniques right into your website, which will help Google, Yahoo, and other search engines find you. This helps more customers find you, which in turn creates more business.
These are just a few quick reasons why your business needs a professional website designer. The list really could go on and on. The guys at O2 are some of the most creative, most talented, and friendliest website designers around as well. We’re always happy to work with clients from both near and far, whether in Grand County, Colorado, or halfway across the world. To further discuss the benefits of professional website design for your business, contact us today!
To contact O2 Creative, call 970-726-8021 or email [email protected].
O2 in Mountain Bike Capital USA
One of the best things about living and working in Colorado’s Favorite Playground is that Colorado’s Favorite Playground also happens to be Mountain Bike Capital USA. That means you can also find O2 in Mountain Bike Capital USA! We pride ourselves on being a bike-crazed community, and with virtually endless bike trails, bike shops, bike events and bike activities, the bike fun just keeps on coming.
Bikes are our preferred means of summertime transportation. We can often be seen pedaling around town during the warmer months, and also ride our bikes to work whenever we can. Anyone who has stopped by the O2 office lately can attest to this.
But biking is far more to us than just a means of transportation. It’s a means of adventure! We’re always eager to explore the miles and miles of trails in our area, whether it be a chilled-out cruise on the Fraser River Trail, or a rambunctious ride on rugged mountain trails.
Part of working in Mountain Bike Capital USA means we also get the opportunity to market Mountain Bike Capital USA. We’ve been working closely with the Winter Park & Fraser Chamber of Commerce to develop Mountain Bike Capital USA’s Facebook and Twitter pages (<–click to like/follow!) Check ’em out on social media to get the scoop on all things Mountain Bike Capital USA: news and events, bike park updates, area trail info, and more.
We’ve also had the privilege to promote Granby Ranch’s downhill mountain bike park, which is quite the thrill indeed. No really, if you haven’t tried downhill biking, try it…SUCH a rush!
Members of the O2 team also plan to be out and about at the Colorado Freeride Festival, this weekend at the Trestle Bike Park. The festival features some of the world’s most talented mountain bike athletes, so you bet we’re going to check it out.
So if you see O2 in Mountain Bike Capital USA, don’t be a stranger! Come say hi if you see us at the downhill bike parks, or give us a wave if you see us cruising along a trail. Happy pedaling from O2!
To contact us at O2 Creative, give us a call at 970-726-8021 or email [email protected].
Click here for our last blog: Photography tips from O2
Photography tips from O2
At O2, we take a lot of photographs. Photos of work, photos of wildlife, photos of sunsets and flowers and other pretty stuff too. While out getting some photos the other day we briefly discussed photography tips and tricks that have worked for us. We figured some of our fellow photographers might be interested in the discussion, so we thought it’d be fun to share some photography tips in this week’s blog post.
Here are just a few quick ones:
– Experiment with angles. Consider every little thing that will be in the frame of a photo – foreground, background, the angle of the subject, the angle of the camera, the angle of lighting or shading, and countless other factors that can affect your finished photo product.
– Consider the lighting of your photo. Most of the time you’ll want the subject of your photo to be as well lit as possible, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get creative with certain backlighting, shadows, and other lighting schemes. Yet another element of lighting is…
– Flash photography. Your camera’s flash can be a useful tool in the right opportunity, allowing you to capture a photo when the situation may otherwise be too dark or too backlit. Don’t overdo it though, as flash can also wash out the subject of the photo.
– Take multiple photos. Sometimes you can take 5 photos of the same thing from the same spot, and for one reason or another, one of the photos will be better than all the others. This is especially true once you get home and upload or develop, and you’ll often be surprised by the look of the finished photo, so it’s worth having multiple takes.
– Be patient. Photography is all about capturing the image of the fleeting moment. Sometimes a photographer must wait for the lighting and the timing and other factors to be just right. Patiently waiting for the right moment can be the difference between a good photo and a great one.
– No really, be VERY patient! Patience is especially important when photographing subjects such as sunsets, wildlife, or anything else that is notorious for not sitting still. For instance, simply waiting for the sun to come back out from behind a cloud can make all the difference.
– Stay steady. A blurry photo usually isn’t a good photo, so try to keep the camera as still and steady as possible. Using a tripod or steadying your camera against a fixed object can help toward achieving clearer crisper photos.
– Know your camera. No two cameras are exactly alike. Be familiar with the shutter speed, buttons, settings, film or memory capacity, and every other factor to your camera. Though they tend to be more user-friendly (or is it user-friendlier?), these factors can even apply to camera phones.
– Be ready. If you hope to get good photos, have your camera – as well as your eye for photography – ready at a moment’s notice! This may seem obvious, but often when you’re out in the field, it’s easy to lose focus on photography. If you aren’t prepared to snap a shot, you aren’t going to get the photos you want.
These are just a few basic photography tips, all casually discussed while out in the field with camera in hand. There’s virtually endless little tricks and tweaks when it comes to photography though. The main point of it all is the opportunity to get CREATIVE! If you have any cool photography tips you’d like to share with us – or for that matter, any cool photos you’d like to share – please do!
To contact us at O2 Creative, give us a call at 970-726-8021 or email [email protected].