Hiring a marketing agency vs. marketing in-house
Hiring a marketing agency vs. marketing in-house – which is better for your business? We at O2 believe that hiring a professional marketing agency can benefit your business in a number of ways. Here are just a few:
Time: Ah, precious time. This can be a premium for many businesses. Marketing takes time too, from devising strategies to coordinating campaigns to creating ads and promotions to…you get the idea. Hiring an agency means the agency will worry about marketing for you, which saves your business precious time.
Expenses. Hiring an in-house marketer can expend a lot of money (salary, benefits) and expend time too (recruiting, interviewing, hiring, training). Hiring an agency can often be less expensive than marketing in-house, especially when you consider that O2 specializes in working with small businesses – we’re a small business too! We can create marketing packages that will fit your needs as well as your budget.
Experience. At O2, we have over 30 combined years of marketing experience, and we’re undertaking new marketing endeavors every day. We can provide you with expert direction if you aren’t sure how to market your business. Our experience also contributes to our next point…
Efficiency. Since we’re extensively experienced, we can quickly and efficiently identify the best marketing initiatives for you. We do this stuff every day! We’ll help you create the right message for the right business at the right time.
Perspective. Small business owners must often keep a narrow focus on their business. While this can be necessary for the sake of the business, it can also make it difficult to step back and think about your business in the big picture of marketing. Hiring an agency can provide a much broader perspective on marketing and other matters. Let us handle your marketing so you can focus on the operations of your business.
Resources. We’re a comprehensive professional agency with a large variety of services to offer. In addition to marketing and advertising services, we can also provide graphic design, web design, promotional products, printing services, and more.
Fun. Okay, why does this matter? Well, we really think you’ll enjoy working with us at O2. In addition to being experienced professionals, we’re actually friendly fun folks too. For instance, even though we’re in the office working hard on Halloween, we still took the time to have a little holiday fun. To prove it, here’s Brad dressed up like Joe Dirt, and Sophie dressed up like a ladybug:
Happy Halloween!
To contact us at O2 Creative, call 970-726-8021 or email [email protected]
Click here for our last blog: Dolls for Daughters
O2’s ode to summer
This week marked the first snow accumulation here in the Fraser Valley. We at O2 really enjoyed seeing the changing seasons on the surrounding mountainsides. We also enjoyed the spectacular snowy fall photos that have been trending on social media. So cool to see fall and winter in the same pic!
The first snows also signaled that summer is officially over. Like, for real this time. We took a moment to reflect on what was a great summer for all of us, and reminisce about some of our favorite moments from the warmer months.
Eric and Philip both enjoyed their first summer of camping in their new RV camper. They took the camper to some of the most colorful corners of Colorado’s Favorite Playground and beyond, enjoying the glamorous style of camping (“glamping”) that the RV affords them. The whole family enjoyed camping, including their son Jacob…
…and the pugs too…
…well, maybe not so much for Sophie.
Jaryd looked back on some cool camping trips of his own, including a hike-and-camp on the 4th of July. The Fraser Valley’s fireworks looked incredible from up on the Continental Divide!
Brad, of course, enjoyed yet another summer season of fly-fishing. He also got a cool camera capable of underwater photography, which allowed him to capture some stunning images of trout. It’s also apparently proof that, yes, sometimes he actually does catch fish. Sometimes.
With that said, we’ve accepted that summer has passed, and we’re ready for the snowy season. The snowfall also got us excited for all the wonderful winter activities in Colorado’s Favorite Playground. Time to get ready for some skiing and snowboarding!
As an agency, we also realize the winter months are among the busiest of the year for local businesses, and we’ve already been preparing for it. (Remember to get your winter marketing planned today!)
So what was your favorite memory from the summer? Are you excited for another snowy winter? Which season do you like more??
To contact O2 Creative, call 970-726-8021 or email [email protected].
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!