Print brokering from O2

O2 is pleased to announce that we’re now offering print brokering services! In fact, we’ve actually offered print brokering services for years. We just thought it might be time for a friendly reminder.

So what exactly is print brokering? Well, it means we serve as an agent between our clients and the wholesale printers with whom we have close working relationships. You could even call us print managers. We can design, coordinate, and source the best print work for your business, and since we’re experienced print brokers, we can source printing as efficiently and as cost-effectively as possible for you.

Working with a print broker offers several advantages. Print brokering allows us to keep our costs lower for you, the client, since we don’t have the overhead of owning our own printing presses. We’re often less expensive than working with a retail printer, and in fact, many “retail” printers are actually just print brokers themselves. Our working relationships with a variety of wholesale printers also allow us to quickly source a variety of the highest quality print products: business cards, stationery, stickers, banners, posters, signage, billboards, even pizza boxes!

And as a full-service agency, we also offer full-service marketing and design work in addition to our print brokering services. We can serve your business through every step of the service, from the time it takes to design the graphics for your print work, to coordinating your print work as part of a marketing campaign, to actually delivering your print work in a timely and efficient manner.

O2 Creative is proud to offer print brokering services, in addition to our graphic design, web design, and marketing services. We can even create promotional products for your business! It’s all part of our greater effort as an agency to serve your business as best we can.

For fast, affordable, eye-catching, high-quality print work, contact O2 Creative about our print brokering services!

To contact O2 Creative, call 970-726-8021 or email [email protected].

Click here for our next blog: O2 goin’ guerrilla!

O2 goin’ guerrilla

O2’s Jaryd and Brad recently headed down to the Front Range for what we like to call a “guerrilla marketing” campaign. Our client Granby Ranch wanted to gain a little more exposure among Colorado’s mountain biking community, so we organized a promotional day at the awesomely huge Wheat Ridge Cyclery in Wheat Ridge, CO.

After promoting the event on social media, we set up shop for an afternoon at the Cyclery. Customers were invited to spin Granby Ranch’s promo wheel, giving them the chance to win passes, coupons, cozies, and other promotional items too.

We also offered cool new Bike Granby Ranch stickers, and even brought along a few Save The Fraser River stickers as well.

Everyone who stopped by to see us was excited to learn about Bike Granby Ranch and to get the opportunity to check out Granby Ranch’s lift-served downhill and cross-country bike trails. Though many people knew Granby Ranch as a winter ski resort, not as many folks were familiar with the resort’s summer bike park.

The promotional efforts really went a long way in increasing Granby Ranch’s brand awareness of its summer bike (and golf, and fish, and grill) offerings. Selecting a large bike shop like Wheat Ridge Cyclery was especially valuable to the campaign, since we were able to increase Bike Granby Ranch’s brand awareness among its most important demographic: bikers!

In addition to effectively increasing Granby Ranch’s brand awareness, the promotional day was actually a lot of fun. At O2 we always enjoy working with our clients, and we’re always happy to undertake all sorts of creative marketing efforts, even if it’s a guerrilla campaign in a whole new community.

Thanks so much to Granby Ranch for being the fun clients they are, and to Wheat Ridge Cyclery for kindly hosting us!

If O2 can help your business with anything from marketing campaigns to promotional products, contact us today!

To contact O2 Creative, call us at 970-726-8021 or email [email protected].

Click here for our last blog: the misadventures of Thumbelina

Promotional Products from O2

O2 is pleased to announce yet another service we’ll be offering as an agency. In addition to providing top-quality graphic design, web design, and marketing services, we’ll now also be offering promotional products to our clients as well! Click here to view our promo products page!

Nowadays, promotional products are an increasingly important part of a business’s marketing mix. They’re a tangible symbol of your business that can really do a lot for brand awareness.

There’s virtually no end to the variety of promotional products we could create for you as well. We can design the coolest branded shirts, hats, and other apparel, which can be used both as uniforms for your employees, as promotional items, or even as business gifts to clients.

We can design your brand logo or message on office products, such as calendars or mouse pads. We can create coffee mugs, water bottles, or even tools and toys that can represent your business too.

Feel free to browse our promotional products page – click here to check it out!

Pens and key chains? We can do that. Bumper stickers for your car? We can do that, too. Branded pocketknives or mini-flashlights? Yup, we can do that too!

We think unique business-specific promotional products can be especially effective. From pizza-shaped magnets for your pizzeria to branded golf balls and tees for your golf course, we can get really creative with promotional products!

Of course, if you’d like to discuss promotional products in more detail, or if you have a certain promotional product in mind, contact us today! We can create the best promotional products that will take your marketing efforts – and the overall success of your business – to whole new levels!

Serving Grand County Colorado, Summit County Colorado, Winter Park, Fraser, Granby, Kremmling, Silverthorne, Dillon, Breckenridge, Frisco for all your Promotional Products. To contact O2, call us at 970-726-8021 or email [email protected] . To view our promotional products page, click here!   Click here for our last blog post: O2 helps to Save the Fraser River

Press Coverage for O2

O2 was in the news this week!

Yup, that’s right. O2’s own Eric Van Herwaarden was interviewed this week by Grand County’s Sky-Hi Daily News. The article offers a little insight into what it’s like to do business here in the high country of Colorado, and covers a lot of interesting topics about O2. Eric discusses a little bit of everything, from marketing and design inspiration to living and working in Colorado’s Favorite Playground. Give it a read!

You can read the interview online: CLICK HERE for a link to the Sky-Hi article about O2.

Thanks to the Sky-Hi Daily News for the great writeup!

Of course, if you’d like to discuss the article, or if you have any other questions for us at O2, please feel free to contact us! Give us a call at 970-726-8021 or email us at [email protected].

Click here for last week’s blog: expanding to Summit County!

O2 expanding to Summit County

Big news from O2!

As you know, our office is located in Grand County, as are many of our clients. In addition to Grand County, we’ve always been happy to provide our top-quality graphic design, web design, and marketing services to businesses near and far. That’s why we’re pleased to announce our plans to expand to Summit County, Colorado!

That’s right. We’d like to formally offer our services to Summit County businesses (though we’ll still be working hard for Grand County and all our other clients either way!)

With our years of experience in resort and tourism marketing and design, we’re already the perfect fit for many businesses in Summit County. We’re happy to come meet in Summit, or if you’re ever in our neck of the woods, you’re always welcome to stop by our Fraser office.

So if you know of any businesses looking for marketing or design work in Frisco, Dillon, Breckenridge, Keystone, Silverthorne, or anywhere else in Summit County, let us know! We’re happy to provide websites, mobile websites, graphic designs, marketing, advertising, promotional items, logos and branding, social media, and any of our other services to our Summit County neighbors.

So contact us at O2 for more info or for a free consultation. Your mountain business deserves to work with a mountain agency!

Give us a call at 970-726-8021 or email [email protected].

Click here for our last blog: small business marketing checklist

Credit Wikipedia for the map image

Small business marketing checklist

Starting or growing your small business can be a lot of work. In order to establish the market presence your business will need, there are a lot of bases you’ll need to cover. That’s where we at O2 can help. We’re an agency that works with new and growing businesses every day. Here are just a few things your business will need to be successful:

Your business will need a brand; a logo; an identity – something by which your market can recognize you. We can help develop your brand, and create a professional logo that’ll do more than just get your business recognized – it’ll make your business stand out.

Your business will also need marketing. Advertising campaigns, promotions, a marketing plan, signage, media, execution – all that stuff takes time and creativity. We can do all your marketing dirty work for you, from designing ads and media, to coordinating a campaign, to even researching and creating a marketing plan. We’ll help you figure out the most effective marketing strategies that will make your business really shine in your market.

Your business should also have a professional online presence. Customers these days expect businesses to have a website, and your business deserves a website that serves your needs: online booking systems, blogging features, e-commerce, photo galleries, and whatever other custom features your business can use to achieve success. Your online presence shouldn’t be limited just to desktop computers either – now that so many folks have smart phones, mobile websites are more important than ever.

And more and more, customers want businesses they can interact with online. They want to know what a business is up to; want to communicate; want timely updates and announcements. This can be achieved through blogging and social media. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and other platforms allow you to showcase your business, interact with your markets. (Oh, and social media campaigns are a GREAT way to attract new customers as well!) We can help you set up blogging and social media pages, and even manage blogs and pages for you, so you can focus on the day-to-day operations of your business.

The point is, we at O2 can help with all the daunting details of marketing. We’ll help your business create the best campaigns, the best designs, and the best websites, and more. Contact us today to discuss all the ways our agency can help your business!

To contact O2 Creative, call 970-726-8021 or email [email protected].

Click here for our last blog – O2 addicted to powder!

5 reasons your business needs a sign

There are virtually endless little details to consider when it comes to marketing a business, though there’s one marketing detail that every business should think of as essential: a sign. Why does your business need a sign? Lots of reasons, actually! Here are just 5 quick reasons why:

Signs are effective. Plain and simple! From a marketing perspective, signs get you noticed. They let your market know who you are, where you are, and what you do. As soon as your business has a sign, customers will instantly be more familiar with you.

Customers judge books by their cover. For better or for worse, this is certainly true, especially with business signs. In a customer’s mind, a good business has a good sign. If your sign is professional, attractive, engaging, and fresh, then customers will think the same about your business. This is why it’s so important to design a quality sign that will accurately represent your business.

Of course, not every sign is necessarily effective in the ways your business wants it to be. If your business’ sign is not professional and engaging, then you won’t engage your customers as well as you could, should, and would with a good sign.

Worse yet, if your sign is bland or plain or dated or broken, then customers will think the same about your business. Even worse yet…

“A business with no sign is a sign of no business.” If you don’t even have a sign then customers may think your business has closed, may not think your business is legitimate, or may not even know your business exists!

Signs aren’t as expensive as you think. No, really! There are quality signs for every business’ budget. Besides, a sign is a one-time cost (contrasted with the ongoing costs of many other marketing initiatives). A sign is an investment for your business, and continues to market your business for years after the initial cost, which leads us to our next point…

A sign is always working for you. It never quits! A sign reminds customers about your brand every time they see it – 24/7/365 (366 on leap years). Even when your business is closed for the day, your sign will still be marketing for you.

These are just a few reasons why it’s so important for your business to have a sign – and not just any old sign, but a professional, well-designed, high-quality sign that represents the quality of your business.

We at O2 would be happy to help you design a sign as well. We can create the coolest signs for all sorts of businesses both big and small. Our signs will represent your business, get you noticed, and never stop working for you!

To contact us at O2 Creative, call 970-726-8021 or email [email protected].

Click here for our next blog: Reasons to hire a marketing agency

Reasons to hire a marketing agency

Folks often ask us, “Why should our business hire a marketing and design agency?”

Well, LOTS of reasons, actually. Between the time, money, energy, and experience it takes to effectively market your business, there are plenty of reasons why your business can really benefit from hiring an agency. Here are just a few:

Experience and expertise: We at O2 have over 30 combined years of experience in marketing and design. We do this stuff every day! If you aren’t sure how to market your business just yet, we can quickly and efficiently help you identify the marketing strategies that will work best for you.

We stay on top of all the latest marketing trends as well, so we can identify marketing ideas much more quickly than someone who doesn’t necessarily think about marketing every day.

Time: Small businesses usually don’t have much free time, and unfortunately, marketing takes time. Devising a strategy, coordinating ads, creating promotional items, writing content, managing a campaign – all that stuff takes precious time. That’s where an agency can help. Let us do your marketing work for you, so you can keep your time focused on operating your business.

Speaking of time – agencies can also complete marketing work much faster than trying to do it in-house.

It’s not as expensive as you might think: sure, hiring the biggest marketing agency in New York City can get pricey, but we’re a small business that specializes in working with other small businesses. We can create marketing packages that fit your needs as well as your budget.

Besides, hiring a marketer in-house can be expensive too. Recruiting, interviewing, training, salary, benefits – all that stuff takes lots of money and time. By hiring an agency to do your business’ marketing, you can contract for exactly the work you need without having to hire a whole new employee.

Objectivism: You know the old adage – “can’t see the forest for the trees.” If you’re busy with the day-to-day details of your business, it may be difficult to think about how to market your business in the big picture. A business can really benefit from the objective outside perspective that an agency can provide, especially when it comes to matters of marketing or design.

Resources: as an agency, we can help with your marketing, but why stop there? We can help you execute every element of a marketing strategy – designing a brand and logos, producing and coordinating advertising, updating blogs and social media campaigns, designing and maintaining websites, and more.

The point we’re trying to make is, there are are lots of ways our agency can help your business. Contact us today to see what we can do for you!

To contact O2 Creative, call 970-726-8021 or email [email protected].

Click here for our last blog: O2 on the Wipe Out!

We won a Davey!

Award Winning Avertisng Agencies!

Big news for O2!

Lots of folks already know we’re O2 Creative, that cleverly creative marketing and design agency up in the mountains…but now we have something to add…

As of last week, now we’re O2 Creative, that AWARD WINNING cleverly creative marketing and design agency up in the mountains!

Yup, that’s right – we won a Davey!

Our design and marketing work has been recognized by the Davey Awards, an international creative award organization that honors small firms with big ideas – you know, just like “Davey” took out Goliath with a small rock and a big idea.

We submitted some of our favorite work we did for one of our favorite clients, The Foundry Cinema and Bowl. Our work has been awarded a Silver Award in Davey’s “Integrated Campaign” category, a category that features 2-5 pieces of work from at least two different mediums – print media, website and mobile web design, signage, etc.

To showcase the consistency in branding that we’ve worked so hard to achieve for The Foundry, we submitted 5 different pieces of work:

The Foundry’s exterior signage:

The Foundry’s website:

The mobile website:

Promotional posters for tournament bowling:

And finally, a wood-fired pizza box packaging:

We wanted our logo and branding direction to be an extension of The Foundry’s retro-industrial building design. For the outdoor sign, we created a large backlit neon-style sign mounted atop The Foundry with metal scaffolding, similar to the signage of some of the more classic industrial buildings of days past:

For the website and mobile site, we wanted a very clean, simple design that also retained the retro-industrial elements of other Foundry designs. We incorporated an “eroded” look for some of the web graphics, to give the website an old school, broken-in sort of feel.

The mobile site features simple icons so users can easily find movie times and other info. The website features a rotating photo banner, which is meant to visually showcase the unique guest experience at The Foundry. Up-to-the-minute movie times are also displayed on the website’s home page.

The promotional posters were intended to generate buzz locally for The Foundry’s tournament bowling league. We again kept the design simple. We used the tagline of “Where Local Legends Are Born” to further entice local bowlers into signing up. To help illustrate bowling and to further create attention, we included bowling pins dressed up as characters from one of our favorite bowling movies.

The pizza boxes were again kept clean and simple. We included The Foundry’s logo to consistently bolster brand awareness. We tastefully added The Foundry’s contact info, and also included stylized flames to bring attention to The Foundry’s unique wood-fired pizza.

Almost 4,000 firms from around the world entered their work in addition to ours, so we consider it a real honor to be recognized among so many other talented agencies. We don’t mean to completely toot our own horn about this, but we really are just that excited about being recognized!

With that said – we want this blog post to be a big THANK YOU – to the Davey Awards, to The Foundry, to all our clients, friends, family, and to anyone and everyone else who have helped us become an award-winning creative agency!

Thanks again, everyone!

Contact us at [email protected]

Read about print vs digital media here