Recent Additions To Our Portfolio Thursday, July 2, 2009

The Drake Coker Co.

www.ProductionRedesigned.com

The Drake Coker Co., a photography production company located on the West Coast, was looking to have their Production Redesigned website revitalized. Torx Media worked closely with Release The Hounds (www.releasethehounds.tv) to deliver a captivating interactive Flash-based website.

All design elements of this particular project were created by Release The Hounds, and the Flash and Actionscript components were developed by Torx Media. From the innovative scrolling image gallery, to the subtle animation of the navigational menu items, this is a great example of a website that is better suited to be delivered in Flash, rather than simple HTML.

The "Case Studies" section of this website sees quite a bit of traffic, so the client wanted to make sure that the actual case studies could be easily printed, downloaded and emailed to colleagues. This functionality, as with the rest of the site, was developed completely in Flash.

To visit this website, follow this link: www.ProductionRedesigned.com. If you have questions or comments about this particular portfolio item, please feel free to contact us.

Virginia Credit Union - Save Smart

www.vacu.org/SaveSmart

Virginia Credit Union's Save Smart project was another successful joint venture between Torx Media and Elevation. VACU recently launched their new "Save Smart" marketing campaign, and they needed a new mini-site that would include tools and tips to help their customers save money and "make every dollar count."

Elevation handled the mini-site's design and layout, and Torx Media coded the website's customer-facing pages and built a custom content management system. This custom CMS enables the client's customers to write and submit their own tips for "smart saving", and it enables the client to collect, manage, and post those customers' tips to the website.

Additional features of this website include the integration of various online calculators for determining loan payments and credit card interest rates. This collection of tools, tips and calculators serves as a terrific repository of information that will undoubtedly help Virginia Credit Union educate their customers about savings strategies.

To visit this website, follow this link: www.vacu.org/SaveSmart. If you have questions or comments about this particular portfolio item, please feel free to contact us.

Choosing A Great Hosting Partner Thursday, June 11, 2009

The world of web and application hosting is a busy market with many options and big hosting companies. But in an over-crowded marketplace, the best choice you can make for your business is to host your website with a reputable company that understands your business and that can provide quick, personalized service. After all, if your website is unavailable, you're losing out on one of the main channels that your customers can interact with your business, and you're likely losing sales as a result.

Large Data Centers, Small Attention to Customers

Many large hosting companies have something really good going for them: their size. They've amassed a large customer base and they house thousands of servers in data centers around the world. One problem is that while many large hosting companies have been busy building huge warehouses filled with great equipment, they've forgotten to increase and improve their customer support. Web hosting customer support is critical - what good is a web host if you can't get support when you need it?

Also, a large web hosting company will likely not understand your specific business needs. Larger hosting companies excel at setting up dozens of sites a day for customers with whom they've never spoken. Each and every business is unique - what works for one business may not work for another. Clearly, a one-size-fits-all approach is a flawed approach.

Leave The Geekery To The Experts

When it comes to choosing a hosting plan, there are typically many decisions that need to be made: What platform should I select - Windows or Linux? How much bandwidth do I need? What about memory and hard drive storage?

Many small business owners don't have time to think about those options. Often, your primary concern is finding a good, reliable environment to host your website. You need someone to take care of the tech so you can focus on running your business.

Support Local Businesses

We firmly believe in supporting local businesses. Many giant hosting companies that are located in Silicon Valley have no direct connection to the economy here in Virginia. We support local businesses, and we encourage Virginia-based businesses to host their website and applications with a company that's deeply rooted in Virginia as well.

After previously referring our partners to larger hosting companies in the past, we found that many of our clients were becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of customer support and limited options. So we decided it was time for us to step in and provide a better hosting solution. If you're interested in finding out more about our custom-tailored hosting options, please contact us for more information.

Recent Additions To Our Portfolio Monday, June 1, 2009

1708 Gallery

www.1708gallery.org

1708 Gallery contacted us recently to redesign and rejuvenate their existing website. 1708 wanted their new website to draw more attention to the gallery's various exhibitions and events, and they also wanted the navigational elements and user interfaces to be much easier to use than their previous website.

We, along with the client, decided to use a neutral grayscale "color" scheme, which would draw the viewer's eye to the more colorful exhibition and event photos placed throughout the site. Additionally, we replaced the site's old Flash-based navigation with a more standard menu bar with dropdown links.

The client also needed a way to update the content on their new site. To meet this requirement, we built a custom content management system that enables 1708 Gallery's staff to add and update information about upcoming exhibitions, events, and press releases.

1708 Gallery came to us with one additional requirement: they wanted to reduce the ongoing cost of maintaining their website. Prior to the launch of 1708's new website, our client had 3 separate websites (and 3 separate bills to pay). We helped them by combining the features of all 3 previous sites into one complete online destination, thus saving them frustration, time, and most importantly, money.

To visit this website, follow this link: www.1708gallery.org. If you have questions or comments about this particular portfolio item, please feel free to contact us.

Virginia Supportive Housing

www.VirginiaSupportiveHousing.org

Working with a bright and cheerful layout provided to us by Elevation, we were able to build an updated and completely redesigned website for Virginia Supportive Housing (VSH). VSH is a not-for-profit organization who's mission is to provide permanent supportive housing to homeless single adults and families. VSH's new website will make it easier to learn more about their causes, and it was very exciting for us to be part of the process.

There was a need for VSH's staff to update the "Events" and "Articles" sections of the website. A simple, easy-to-use content management system was built to enable the client to edit the website's content, without having to rely on a web developer to make those changes for them.

The staff at Virginia Supportive Housing also have access to a WordPress-powered blog, which is fully incorporated into the existing structure of the new website's design and layout.

To visit this website, follow this link: www.VirginiaSupportiveHousing.org. If you have questions or comments about this particular portfolio item, please feel free to contact us.

Building A Local Brand - Going Global Isn't For Everyone Monday, May 11, 2009

By now, almost everyone has an understanding of how technology has quickly enabled many businesses to operate on a global scale. The world's biggest brands - Nike, Coca-Cola, Apple, and Google - they all have global branding and marketing strategies that make their products and services recognizable almost anywhere on the planet. But as a local or regional business owner, what if taking over the world isn't your goal? What if it makes more sense, logically and financially, to focus your marketing efforts locally?

What Is A Brand?

Before discussing the benefits of a local branding strategy, let's take a step back and look at the definition of "branding". The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a "brand" as a "name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers." That's a mouthful. More concisely, "branding" is the process of creating something recognizable that says who you are and what your business represents.

Developing a brand strategy is one of the most difficult steps in the marketing plan process, but it is absolutely vital in creating your company's identity. It's essential to spend time researching, defining, and building your brand in order to successfully integrate your brand strategy at every point of public contact.

Enough about "Branding 101" though. How does developing a strong local branding strategy give your business an advantage over your competition?

Develop A Strong Local Branding Strategy

The first mistake many local business owners make is to completely ignore branding altogether. How many times, while you're out driving somewhere, have you noticed a vehicle sporting a generic "Joe's General Contracting Services" window decal? That decal simply consists of the name of the business, a phone number, and sometimes a website url. Ask yourself if that decal was memorable. By creating a memorable logo for your business, and then by repeatedly using that logo at every point of public contact, you already have an advantage over "Joe's General Contracting Services".

Consistency in your branding message is crucial to the success of your business's marketing strategy. I can recall passing a certain local business storefront (business name withheld to protect the guilty) every morning on my way to the office. This company had the name of their business on their store's front window, on a sign hanging over the sidewalk, and even on a sidewalk display. The repetitiveness of their business name was a good start, but where they failed was that they used a completely different font for each of these items. Being consistent with your branding evokes a feeling of professionalism that many local businesses lack.

Local Brands Create Tighter Bonds

Be careful not to think that branding isn't important just because you don't operate your business on a global scale. Local brands have the ability to create tighter bonds with their "hometown" customer/prospect base. Additionally, local brands often meet unique local needs, and they often have operational and logistical advantages over national and global competitors.

You can definitely run a very successful local business without going "global". It is very easy to gain an advantage over your local competitors by applying very basic marketing and branding strategies. To learn more about local branding strategies, or if you would like a complimentary estimate for Torx Media's branding services, click here.