by Kirby Hasseman
I have been on a quest to read 50 business and personal development books this year…and the process has been awesome. I have learned a ton (and you might expect) and it has inspired me to use my time wiser, try new things and launch new projects. If you want the complete list of my 2015 books (so far) you can check that out here. But many of my friends have asked me to narrow this list. “If you only had time to read one book, which one would it be?” It’s a fair question, but I thought I might narrow the list differently. So I decided to look through the list and narrow them based on subject matter, so you might be able to select that way. Here goes! Entrepreneurial FinanceProfit First was one of the most impactful books I read all year. If you have a Master’s in economics, this might seem rudimentary. But if you are like me (and most entrepreneurs I know) this represents a new way of thinking that makes more sense to me. We changed the way we do finance in our company based on this book. I could not recommend it more! Business Model ChangeThe Automatic Customer was another thought provoking book for me. It made me think of ways I might create new revenue streams in my own business…and what kind of businesses I might look at next. Mainly, it got me thinking. I love that. Social Media MasteryThe Art of Social Media has a great mixture of basics and advanced techniques that are applicable right away. You get a dose of philosophy but a big helping of tactics in this easy read. The Art of Hustle10X Rule is the ultimate kick in the pants type of book. If you are not creating the kind of success in your life that you want, Grant tells you it’s because you are not taking enough action. I recommend to listen to this one while running, driving, etc. and you will find yourself wanting to work harder. Content MarketingIf you want to be a Content Marketing Jedi, then you need to read Content Inc. I really like the way Joe Pulizzi explains it…and lets you know the end game. He also does a great job of giving you success case studies and reminds you this is a long game process. Sales Process and DesignThe Sales Acceleration Formula is a great reminder that we need to think about sales differently. Mark Roberge designed a process driven sales strategy with Hubspot that made me think differently. Good stuff. I will need to read this one again! Delivering Marketing JoyYes…that is a category! I would be remise if I didn’t put my book on the list, right? If you want to learn how to do Promo right, this is a good one...but consider my bias. 🙂 As you can see, I read a lot of other books too. But hopefully this narrows the field down a bit for you. Let me know if you have other books you know I should read! And that is how we do it. Want to keep up all the time? Make sure to join our VIP List! Our VIP’s get an email with the latest content…and other special offers as well. Join here.
by Kirby Hasseman
Here’s hoping that each of you had a GREAT Thanksgiving holiday! The holiday season is certainly now upon us, so we hope you enjoy it! Now for a quick list of content the team at Hasseman Marketing created this past week. We hope you get a lot out of that too! 3 Mistakes with Print Design: One of the best ways to catch your customer’s attention is through great design. But not everyone can afford to pay a professional. So here Josh Williams gives you some things to watch for when doing your own design. Click here to read more. Weekly Word: It was Thanksgiving week, so the Weekly Word reflected that. But have you taken the time to say “thank you” for your customers, employees and stakeholders? Now might be a great time. Here is your reminder. 50 Books: Kirby set the goal at the beginning of the year to read 50 personal development and business books. He is at 47! Here is his list. Some great books on this list. Let us know if you want input on any of them. 11 Tips To Lift Your Spirits: This can be a tough time of year for some people. So here are 11 Tips to get you on track for the holiday season. The Right Reason: Trying to mask the “real reason” you are doing something can slow down your progress. If you want to make real progress, stop looking for the “right reason.” Read more here. Delivering Marketing Joy: The Delivering Marketing Joy webshow has been rolling along each week for more than a year now! Hard to believe! This week we take a look back at some of the best questions Kirby has been asked…and how he tackled them! Watch this episode here! Creating Your Christmas List: Most of us has been asked to do this. Create your own Christmas list. Write down all of the gifts you might want so that your relatives can go and get them for you. But do you take that much time to write down the things you want to provide yourself? Maybe you should. Read more here. A Second Coat: We end this week of Content with a quick post about not giving up on the first try. The fact is, sometimes we just need a 2nd coat. Read more to find out what this is all about! Considering it was a short week, we got a lot done! We hope that you get something out of each post. Please let us know!
And that is how we do it. Want to keep up all the time? Make sure to join our VIP List! Our VIP’s get an email with the latest content…and other special offers as well. Join here.
by Kirby Hasseman
Graphic design is about the eye and the mind. It’s about finding a new and creative way to solve an old problem. A trained designer will understand how to answer these questions and solve these problems in the best way possible.
But sometimes, a quick job or budget constraints mean that you may have to create the artwork yourself. In this case, there are also plenty of measurable skills that almost anyone can use to improve how the final product of their design will come out.
Print is a physical medium, so there are many practical problems that need to be considered when making your artwork. Today, we’re going to cover three things to consider due to the process of cutting, or trimming, the paper. In general, any print job is run on a sheet of paper larger than the final size. For example, if you are making a flyer that is 8 1/2″ x 11″, or the size of a sheet of copier paper, it will most likely be printed on a sheet of paper that is 9 1/2″ x 12″, give or take, and then trimmed down the final size afterward. This physical process gives some speed bumps to consider when creating artwork.
Margins
An easy way to ruin your final job is to put your content, like text or important images, close to the edge of the sheet. When setting up a page, it’s easy to look at your white space and think you can fill all of it with your artwork. This isn’t the case. There needs to be a margin on the sides, top, and bottom to avoid anything important being cut off. If your headlines or text get too close to the edges, they run the risk of being trimmed off by accident. In this case, the printer is not to blame for it, and you are left with a job that is basically unusable. A safe distance to put anything important on your page is at least 1/4 inch from the edge of the sheet. This will give the printer enough room to work with the wiggle in the sheets as they trim them down, without worrying too much about cutting anything off.
Bleeds
In print work, and color or background that is supposed to run to the edge of the page without white showing is called a “bleed”. In order to correctly get this effect, the image needs to “bleed” over the edge. This means that when the art is printed on the larger sheet, the background will be a little bigger than the trimmed size. This may sound like opposite advice from the margin section, but the difference is that the background shouldn’t have anything important, like pertinent information or images, it should be a simple color or an image that isn’t of absolute necessity.
Alignment
Another aspect to easily overlook is the alignment of the artwork. Are all the elements centered on the page, or are they a little farther left or right? This can wreak havoc on your design. Without properly centered artwork, the printer will cut it as sent, which will make your page look lopsided. Sometimes, printers will try to correct it for you and center the page, but this can lead to problems with bleed, or even frustration from the printer from dealing with troublesome artwork.
Simply following little guidelines like this will instantly make whatever you create begin to look more professional. But remember, whenever possible, you should hire a professional to make the most out of your project and show your company in the best light. When the need arises, remember we at Hasseman Marketing offer full-service design, start to finish. Give us an idea, and we will take it to new heights.
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by Kirby Hasseman
It’s nearly Thanksgiving (a great holiday) and we wanted to give you something to be thankful for…more content! 🙂 Here is the week that was at Hasseman Marketing! 5 Lessons from Delivering Marketing Joy: Each week we talk to business leaders from across North America about how to grow, create great culture and more. In this blog post we take a look at 5 (recent) lessons from Delivering Marketing Joy! Speaking of Delivering Marketing Joy…and speaking of Content, we bring you some great Content Marketing Lessons. Here we take a look back at some of the best in the business at Content Marketing. Learn the hows and whys in this episode of Delivering Marketing Joy! Messages: In this post Jeff Wickerham reminds us that we are sending messages to the world…so we might as well be intentional about it. Here is what Jeff learned at a high school football game. Weekly Word: The best salespeople have always been story tellers. What are you (and your organization doing to tell your story? The better the story…the stronger the sales. Learn more in the Weekly Word here. Growth Begins: In this blog post, Kirby Hasseman tells us that we are not the person that can reach the big audacious goal…but we can be. Learn more here. And that is how we do it. Want to keep up all the time? Make sure to join our VIP List! Our VIP’s get an email with the latest content…and other special offers as well. Join here.
by Kirby Hasseman
Each week on Delivering Marketing Joy, I get the chance to interview fantastic leaders, entrepreneurs, authors and thought leaders on the best way to grow and run an organization. What started as an interesting way for me to be able to create great content, has become a weekly class for me to attend. I have learned so much from listening to these leaders. While your best bet to get the most from this #MarketingJoy class is to subscribe to the channel here or to sign up for our VIP list, let me give you some of the most recent lessons I have taken away from Delivering Marketing Joy! Customer Service Drives Sales: In one of the most recent episodes, I had the chance to chat with Ray Jimenez about his sales philosophy. Ray says sales is constantly driven by customer service. If you want to have long-term success in sales, you better take great care of the customer. Listen more here. Be Authentic: and Know Your Audience: It was hard to pick one lesson from this special episode with Bill Petrie and Dana Zezzo. As I have said before, this was like a Master’s class on sales and social. But Dana and Bill remind us to be authentic, but to know our audience in order to be super efficient in sales. Watch the full show here! Own Your Media: One of my favorite new episodes included Joe Pulizzi. He is the King of Content Marketing and he reminds us that we need to have a process in place to actually get our leads to give us their information. If we have Facebook friends, Facebook owns them. Joe goes into more in the full episode here! Make an Impact and Grow: Danny Rosin and I talk about the way to grow your business is in the “right way” here. Danny tells us that he envisions Philanthropy will become the new “marketing done right.” Through making an impact, we can grow our business too. Learn more here. Listen to Your Customers To Drive Business: On this episode of Delivering Marketing Joy I talked with author and entrepreneur Tim Fargo. He told us how his newest venture TweetJukebox took off because he had an idea, then listened to his customers tell him how to change it! Here is the full episode. And these are just 5 great lessons from 6 great leaders. Please subscribe here if you never want to miss an episode. Or you can join our VIP list here so you get into the inner content circle! Let’s grow together!
