Volume 1, Issue 1
November 2010
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elcome to our first issue of Vision. Our mission is to inform, inspire and support the entrepreneur community as well as small business owners. As an entrepreneur myself, I developed an idea about nine years ago to utilize my writing and designing skills to assist other small business owners with producing promotional copy for their businesses. Creative Image Design Services has currently produced a newsletter to encourage entrepreneurs to pursue their professional goals. Vision is a quarterly publications that will offer entrepreneurs business resources, marketing, financial, social media information as well as provide upcoming events in the community. Creative Image Design Services offers effective communication, innovation and great customer service.We encourage small business owners to consider their values and establish their company image to promote their business. We hope you enjoy our first issue and find what you need to assist you in your business endeavors. Building Your Brand: Importance of an Innovative Logo Design When creating your media kit or corporate identity package, it’s imperative that you select the right logo design that will represent your company image. Choosing the right colors, fonts and images can influence your customer more than you realize. The recent incident regarding “The Gap” changing their logo had a negative impact with their customers and caused an uproar which made the company quickly change their logo back to the original design. You must take precautions and understand the messages your trying to project to your target audience. Building your brand consists of various aspects of marketing including social media. Communicating your image on all levels is vital tool. Your logo design is the first thing a customer remembers besides your product or service. So make sure you take into consideration what message you’re going to convey through your logo design.
Inside this Issue: Introduction
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Building Your Brand with a Logo Design
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Social Media
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How to Apply for a Grant
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Events & Seminars
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Forward comments or suggestions to: Yolanda Berry; Managing Editor & Designer Email: CreativeImage4u@yahoo.com
How to Apply for a Grant There are many opportunities for funding your business. If you prefer not to take out a bank loan for a small business start up, you may want to consider applying for a grant.
Social Media in Business
A grant is a one-time payment that is provided by the state and city chamber of commerce, state economic development agencies and state commerce departments. The time period for the approval of your grant application can be a couple of months to a year.
Social networking sites also known as Web 2.0 has become increasingly popular wit the new technology age that is rapidly changing how we communicate. It is important to build an online presence for your business that will market your product or service as well as establish a solid network of connections. Your profile page must be maintained and updated on a regular basis. There is also news feeds that will keep you updated on your competitor’s as well as your customers. Building a testimonial page proves to be beneficial to your online presence. The upcoming development on Linkedin, a professional networking site, will allow you to click on company names and view a landing page which is a short one-page website and review top ranking statistics of the companies.
You will receive an acceptance letter which will list all the conditions, expectations and details of program. This is a binding contract agreement so make sure you read it carefully before signing. For more information: New Jersey: www.njchamber.com Newark: www.newarknychamber.org State economic development: www.njeda.com/web/default.aspx
There are also government agencies such as the Small Business Administration (SBA), US Department of Commerce, US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the US Dept of Labor. You can research more information on their websites: Small Business Administration: www.sba.org
Upcoming Events Score, a national non-profit sponsored by the SBA, presents a seminar “Starting and Managing Your Own Business� at 2 Gateway Center, corner of Mc Carter Hwy and Market St on the 15th floor, Newark, NJ near NJ Transit Penn Station) Registration fee $35 at the door ($30 if paid in advance) includes a copy of 140 page textbook includes seminar presentations. Seminars starts at 9am-2:30pm held the 3rd Tues of Jan, Mar, Apr, June, Sept & Nov
US Dept of Commerce: www.commer ce.gov US Dept of Housing & Urban Dev: www.portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/ HUD Dept of Labor: www.nj.gov/labor
For more info, please call: 973-645-3982 2