Marketing By Design

I recently watched a friend of mine go through a process to have a shower door custom made and installed. I had custom glass shelves installed in a kitchen remodel a year before and I was impressed by the precision of the glass company [Dick’s Rancho Glass]. When the friend and her husband got prices from the glass company and from the installation department of a big box store (which I normally shop at), the slightly cheaper price seemed like a reasonable decision. Three door mis-installations later, due mainly to the door manufacturer not measuring and manufacturing the product correctly, and, whoooeee, the $150 they saved has been eaten up by the time spent making and waiting for the appointments for each new installation.

We’ve had that happen with clients as well.  They saved ‘a ton’ of money on the photography, design or printing, only to find that some very basic details had not been accounted for. Even simple things like how we make mockups, versus only sending pdf files, have made a big difference. Once you touch the booklet, see the pages as a spread (vs viewing in single page pdf format) and realize that two photos, or two text blocks don’t make sense in context, then important decisions can be addressed. Otherwise, it comes up at the printers proof with a time and cost consequence.

Love those mockups. They reveal more than we’d ever expect, and are so glad they do.

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Do you still make mock-ups for your clients? or even for yourselves? How do you avoid those types of mistakes? Even been beat out on a quote and had the client come back to you to do it right? Share your story in the comments below.

his year I have embarked on a very intriguing journey with my Leadership Sacramento class. What is Leadership Sacramento? Leadership Sacramento is a year-long program of the Sacramento Metro Chamber that engages 35 emerging leaders in the region's most pressing issues through a monthly class with the newsmakers and policymakers themselves. The class is also responsible for developing, planning, and implementing a charity project during their class year.

Over the course of the year we meet for a full day, once a month, to learn about a different topic in Sacramento’s economy. This year’s agenda covers: Civic Engagement, Sacramento’s History, Government, Regional Economy and Workforce Development, Regional Issues, The Business of Being Green, ‘Arts, Culture and Entertainment’, Emerging Industries & Leaders, Healthcare, and Law & Order. Each day is packed with 6-12 experts specific to the topic at hand. The discussions are lively and intriguing. As the year goes on you begin gain a whole new perspective on the issues we face, assets we have and how interconnected each topic and this region is.

The perspective on Sacramento I’ve gained has been great. Equally as important is the network that has formed amongst all 35 classmates. We are attorneys, designers, managers, directors, advocates and more. Our professions and ages vary widely, yet through this common experience we have all learned from each other, collaborated together and bonded to form a tight network.

Leadership Sacramento has been a great experience for me this year. I’d highly recommend it to all who are interested in opening their minds to the bigger picture of Sacramento. It’s good for you and it’s good for your company’s exposure.

I didn’t sit down to write this post as a sales pitch, but it does so happen that applications are open for next year’s Leadership Sacramento Class, deadline is Oct 21st.

n my previous post, you can find here, I mentioned that each Leadership Sacramento class has a community service class project. Every year dozens of nonprofits apply to have their project selected by the Leadership class. (It’s not too often you get the energy and expertise of 35 diverse professionals focused on helping your cause.) Our class made our selection based on a few key criteria: regional impact, accomplishable within a year, ongoing impact beyond a year, that it wouldn’t have gotten done with our help, and that it is a nonprofit with enough capacity to be a good partner.

We reviewed many worthy projects and in the end I am quite proud that our group chose what I think was the most challenging project. It’s not too hard to sell ‘helping to feed children’ or ‘to save puppies’, but we chose to create a new program for the Sacramento Tree Foundation that retrofits old parking lots by adding trees, and to launch that as a pilot project at Florin Road Bingo. A very worthly cause, but not very sexy. Luckily we came up with a good name: Cover Your Asphalt.

Cover Your Asphalt delivers serious environmental and business benefits as the trees mature.

Business Benefits

The trees protect parking lots from the harmful effects of the sun, extending their lifespan by up to 10 years.  Adding trees also lowers the ambient temperature, reducing surrounding business’ cooling costs up to 40%. Another study found that customers spend more time and will pay more at businesses with shaded parking lots. All of these benefits, as well as aesthetic benefits, increase property values.

Environmental Benefits

By shading the asphalt, ambient temperatures are reduced, which is especially important in urban areas covered with black asphalt. High temperatures also expand the gas in the gas tanks of parked cars, causing them to emit pollutants even while they are turned off. Shading with trees reduces emissions from parked cars by 18%. It can lower temperatures in parked cars by 60°F. Trees capture water in their leaves, trunks, and roots, limiting and cleaning storm water runoff. By capturing particulate matter directly from the air, trees improve air quality.

The Florin Road Bingo Hall in South Sacramento (24th Street and Florin Road) is the pilot project for the Cover Your Asphalt program, enabling us to quantify the true costs and benefits of creating shade in older parking lots. We will be planting all 25 trees this Saturday, December 10th, along with volunteers, sponsors and local elected officials who will be showing their support. 

I’m quite proud to be a part of this project. It has taken a lot of energy and effort, but my dedicated classmates have continually risen to the occasion. The planting is this weekend, but it doesn’t stop there. That’s just phase one! Up next is to launch and sustain a brand new program for the Sacramento Tree Foundation.

Learn more about the Cover Your Asphalt program here.
Learn more about Leadership Sacramento here.
Learn more about the Sacramento Tree Foundation here.