May 2016
Designer DOs and DON'Ts
Stop scaring, trapping and stalking people


Monstrous pop-ups don't really attack your face, but it can feel that way.

It is a dark and stormy night. The only light in your room is the glow of your computer screen. You need to look up one last thing on the Internet before you go to sleep. Slowly, slowly, a website begins to load when suddenly ... AAAH! ... a monster attacks your face!

Wait ... no ... deep breath. It was just a pop-up jumping out from the web page.

As an adult, you know monsters don't live under beds; they live in woodland caves or underground parking garages. You also know that pop-up windows are now commonplace on the web.

The worst ones look and behave like monsters. You recoil in horror at their hideous design. You back into a corner as they gang up to crowd your screen. You look desperately for a means of escape but the X that should mark the exit is missing.

Pop-up horror shows send people screaming into the night or clicking frantically to their browser settings to block pop-ups. To see our favorite pop-up horror show, click here.

But pop-ups don't have to be monsters! If you design them well and implement them with specific intent, they can be great tools for your business or nonprofit.

Research shows that a call to action placed on a pop-up typically provides an extraordinary increase in the response rate when compared with calls to action placed elsewhere on a webpage. The reason is clear.

Pop-ups force visitors to momentarily shift their attention. Some shift just long enough to close the pop-up window, but others read the message and answer the call to action.

Follow these tips to create friendly pop-ups that invite a response:
  • DON'T scare people. Wait until a visitor has been on your site for 30-60 seconds, or visited more than one page, before you display your pop-up. Give your pop-up a clean, simple design that is easy to read. Fade the page content behind the pop-up window to eliminate visual clutter.
  • DON'T trap people. Prominently display the exit X in the top right corner of the pop-up window and set up the window to close automatically when people click on the page behind it.
  • DON'T stalk people. Utilize cookies and tracking software to suppress the pop-up when a returning visitor (a) has already taken the action being requested, (b) has been shown your pop-up within the last 30 days, or (c) has closed your pop-up window multiple times.
  • DO make it interactive. State a clear call to action that people can take immediately, such as entering an e-mail address.
Need help with design for print or web? Call Kim Landry at 484-829-0021 or email [email protected].
 
Editor FAQ

Getting started on a writing task can be r-r-r-ruff!
Getting past 'blank page syndrome'

Q. I've been tasked with writing a report on what our organization achieved over the past year. I've been given a list of bullet points, but I don't know how to begin.

A. Staring at a blank computer screen is the scariest thing for people who are new to a communications role. If your first reaction is panic, you are not alone.

Even professional writers sometimes find themselves stymied at how to get started. They channel that old Bob Dylan line from "Brownsville Girl," look for their muse, throw up their hands and lament
"If there's an original thought out there, I could use it right now."

That inertia is so common, it has a name: "blank page syndrome." So how do you get past it?

The first step, contrary to instinct, is don't panic. And the second step, with a nod to Nike, is just do it. The best way to start writing is to simply start writing. Think of your report as an email, a text message or a phone call. A savvy editor once told a young reporter to "Imagine you have just come back from an event and a friend calls to ask what happened. Your answer will either be the most important thing or the most interesting thing."

If you've read the bullet points or resource materials, your brain has already subconsciously noted what is important or interesting. It's time to get your subconscious thoughts out of your head and onto the page. "Start by getting something - anything - down on paper," novelist Anne Lamott advises in Sh*tty First Drafts. "The first draft is the down draft - you just get it down. The second draft is the up draft - you fix it up."

Let your first draft be your "child's draft," Lamott says, "where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place."

Put aside your first draft for a day if you can, or at least a few hours. Then come back to it as if someone else wrote it - someone you don't like, if that helps. Pretending like this will help you look critically at the writing. Does it start with the most important or interesting part? If not, move that part up. As the reader, what would you like to know more about? Add that. What seems unimportant? Delete that.

Such judgments are key to polishing a piece of writing in the "up draft." Seeing the improvements over your first draft will be an upper for your writing experience!


In the Beginning Quiz

Can you match the artists below with some of their famous beginning lines?


A. "I never meant to cause you any sorrow
      I never meant to cause you any pain"

B. "Hello, it's me
      I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to meet"

C. "I was bruised and battered, I couldn't tell what I felt.
      I was unrecognizable to myself."

D. "Six inch heels, she walked in the club like nobody's business"

E. "Once upon a time you dressed so fine
     Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?"

F. "I stay up too late, got nothing in my brain
     That's what people say mmm, that's what people say"

Click here for the answers!

Need help with writing or editing content for your website, blog, email newsletter or brochure? Call Kim Landry at 484-829-0021 or email [email protected].
 
Strategist Quickie
Start being the company you want to become


He wanted to be a zookeeper and she wanted to be the first female president. It's important to have a vision for the future, even if you later change your mind.
Our society encourages children to think about what they want to be when they grow up. We know that following any career path requires years of preparation and a series of choices not to pursue other options.

Likewise, business gurus encourage company leaders to plan for a firm's future by writing strategic plans that look ahead 3 to 5 years. The goals set in the plan are meant to prioritize preparation steps and influence choices between staying on track and veering off in a new direction.

While reserving the right to change the plan, savvy business leaders begin immediately to make decisions aligned with those goals. They understand that acting now in accordance with their vision for the future can propel the company forward with the power of self-fulfilling prophecy.

Marketing decisions are a key priority in the preparation. The sooner you begin evolving your branding, messaging and positioning, the sooner you will be the company you want to become.

Start with the way you present the company on its website. For example:
  • Branding. Will your company name, logo, tagline - or all three - no longer be a good fit when you reach the goals in your strategic plan? If so, begin now to execute a brand evolution or rebranding to fit the future vision.
  • Messaging. Let's say you offer four services, practice areas or product groups and present them all as equally important. Due to changes in demand, shrinking profit margins or something else, your plan is to ramp up the most promising service to 50% of revenues, grow two others to 25% each and phase out the lowest performer. Starting now, divide the prime real estate on your website to match the planned percentage of revenues from each service. The low performer doesn't have to be removed from the site entirely until you no longer offer it, but move it to sub-prime space on the site.
  • Positioning. If you currently position your company as the low-cost provider, but your plan is to become a mid-priced provider, remove all references to lowest cost and replace those messages with statements that emphasize value.
When your website is telling the world about the new you, the inquiries you get will be the kind you want. That will move you closer to your goals more quickly than any other action you could take.

Have a marketing challenge? Call Kim Landry at 484-829-0021 or email [email protected].
 
Challenges & Solutions
Helping a new museum bring history to life
 
Client's Challenge
Families and school groups visit historical sites to learn about the past, but the sites often are less engaging than the events that took place there. In San Antonio, Texas, the Spanish mission where the Battle of the Alamo was fought is a perfect example. To remedy that, a new educational exhibition titled Battle for Texas: The Experience made its debut this spring.

The museum brings history to life by taking students and other visitors inside the Battle of the Alamo to experience it as the defenders did. This immersive approach not only gives visitors an understanding of WHAT the defenders went through, but HOW they would have felt going through it. In the re-created rooms of the Alamo, visitors see the hardships the defenders had to deal with, experience the sounds and smells of battle, and get a fresh sense of the character and courage of the defenders.

Producers BASE Entertainment and The Gold Group came to Hollister Creative to create educational materials based on the new exhibition that would make it as academically engaging as it is entertaining. They became aware of our education work through an award-winning student learning guide we had created for the traveling exhibit Mummies of the World. They wanted an original guide tied to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards for Grades 4 and 7 - the two grades in which Texas students focus on state history.

Click image to view larger.

Our Solution
With the client, we settled on a plan to create separate student learning guides for each grade. This enabled us to tailor the reading and challenge level of the lessons and activities to the appropriate grade level. More importantly, we could then give a detailed list of the TEKS standards supported by the materials - hugely important to teachers and schools considering field trips to the exhibit.

To make the materials flexible and easy to use, we organized them into self-contained learning units that could be presented as a single lesson or as a series of lessons, before, during or after a visit to Battle for Texas: The Experience. Each unit was crafted to contain interpretive text highlighting an aspect of the attraction, plus Social Studies and English Language Arts activities. The standards-based activities enable students to build academic skills as well as a deeper understanding of the Battle of the Alamo and Texas history.

Client Comment
"Choosing Hollister Creative to develop the education materials for Battle for Texas: The Experience greatly enhanced our efforts to reach out to teachers and schools. Our education team was very impressed with the lesson plans developed for use in schools and the activities for students to do while at the attraction. Hollister met all our benchmarks and delivered a handsome, authoritative package on time and on budget." - Joe Gold, Agency Principal, The Gold Group

Three Quick Tips
If you are challenged to develop support materials for a new venture, here are three tips:
  • Learn the landscape. Take the time to learn the environment in which the new venture will be operating. Research how it will fit with the history, attitudes and market that already exists, and how it can distinguish itself and enhance existing offerings.
  • Know the target audience. Success for a new venture rests on how well it engages its target audience. Put yourself in the shoes of that audience when developing materials, and ask three key questions: A. What does this audience want? B. In what form do they want it? C. How will it deliver value?
  • Pay special attention to detail. Nothing undermines a new venture like getting essential details wrong. If you're developing a Texas history piece, know the difference between Texans and Texians and who the Tejanos were. Go the extra mile to educate yourself and become an authoritative source of information.
Challenges and Solutions are mini case studies that include tips you may find helpful if you are facing a similar challenge. View more Challenges and Solutions on the Hollister Creative website. If you are facing a marketing challenge, call 484.829.0021 or email Kim Landry.

You Want This
Don't flip out

Do you love to cry in your cubicle? Whisper at the water cooler? Sing in the staff caf? No need to lose it - now you can choose it! With The Daily Mood Flipchart, you can select one of 47 moods to display your current emotional state. With a corresponding smiley face, snarky definition, bonus fact, and sample sentence, it's easier than ever to share your feelings.   

Want to lift your mood? Email us a request by noon on May 20. We will randomly select five readers who have not won in 2016 to receive "The Daily Mood Flipchart."
Like us on Facebook This week, 2,653 people are following us on Facebook

We are entertaining and educating our fans with examples of good and bad writing and design as well as winning strategies for marketing and communications. New posts 3x per week. Join us and enjoy!
On our website

How We Help Business Owners

How We Help Marketing Directors

Managed MarCom Services

What We Do

Thanks for all the fan mail!

We've posted comments from readers of this e-newsletter.
Read fan mail.

What clients say about us