tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42670382590935476132024-03-13T23:55:48.616-07:00The McNaughton GroupUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4267038259093547613.post-56305723377180125312013-04-28T16:12:00.000-07:002013-04-28T16:13:47.026-07:00FireStarters newsletter<div class=WordSection1><div align=center><table class=MsoTableGrid border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 style='border-collapse:collapse;border:none'><tr><td width=638 valign=top style='width:6.65in;border-top:none;border-left:solid black 6.0pt;border-bottom:none;border-right:solid black 6.0pt;background:black;padding:0in .1in 0in .1in'><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><a href="http://www.mcnaughtongroup.biz/"><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none'><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YvkgF-teazs/UX2tK2U1G4I/AAAAAAAAGCs/0funwBaithw/s1600/image001-727027.jpg"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YvkgF-teazs/UX2tK2U1G4I/AAAAAAAAGCs/0funwBaithw/s320/image001-727027.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5872039891054173058" /></a></span></a><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr><td width=638 valign=top style='width:6.65in;border-top:none;border-left:solid black 6.0pt;border-bottom:none;border-right:solid black 6.0pt;background:white;padding:0in .2in 0in .2in'><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><b><i><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Hi there!,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>This post is a copy of my regular e-newsletter, published to my clients each month. It offers an up-to-date look at some of my latest projects. I work with a broad range of clients, on a wide variety of projects.</span><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Yet each client generally asks for the same kind of work each time, and we rarely discuss the <i>other</i> types of work I do. Sometimes all it takes is a quick look at different things to spark change and growth in our own thinking and, with this e-newsletter, I hope to show you real-world ideas that might help you take your business in new and unexpectedly successful directions.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style='height:4.9pt'><td width=638 valign=top style='width:6.65in;border-top:none;border-left:solid black 6.0pt;border-bottom:dotted windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:solid black 6.0pt;background:white;padding:0in .2in 0in .2in;height:4.9pt'><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:12.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Western Digital/Igawa Design<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#0070C0'>User Manual<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#0070C0'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eCUDyHxnBd8/UX2tLf6jqjI/AAAAAAAAGC4/iVO80-4_4bc/s1600/image002-729591.jpg"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eCUDyHxnBd8/UX2tLf6jqjI/AAAAAAAAGC4/iVO80-4_4bc/s320/image002-729591.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5872039902218267186" /></a></span><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><b><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The Client and The Project<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Western Digital is an internationally known manufacturer of hard drives, computer storage media, and digital networking products. Chances are pretty good that your computer has a hard drive from Western Digital, such is their reach with corporate and consumer computer OEMs. Their line also includes routers and switches for computer networking, and that's where this project comes in.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The MyNet™ line of routers needed a new user manual, so they approached my friend Sven Igawa of Igawa Design to develop the visual look for the book, as he's already been involved in redesigning their packaging for this product. They were also retraining their in-house publishing department for a move from an older page layout program to the modern Adobe InDesign. These user guides were to be that department's introduction to working with the program and to the new workflows that software makes possible. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><b><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Our Work Together<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Sven and I used to work together at Quiksilver, and he approached me to take over the production of the prototype book to his visual design, and to create the workflow that Western Digital will use to produce future books. Lastly, a training document was needed to get their team up to speed on the workflow and the techniques I used to leverage InDesign for efficient production.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><b><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The Results<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The project has been a huge success. Sven's design is beautiful and visually simple, but requires a sophisticated production workflow to keep production costs under control as the design adapts to the strikingly different types of information the book presents. My workflow automates the book production to a large degree, even taking over some of the text formatting with GREP relational scripting so that for parts of the job, no manual labor is required at all: Quite literally, some of the book formats itself depending upon the content of that individual section of text. Western Digital has taken over production of future books, using this workflow and training their operators with the training manual I provided. </span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><b><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>How About You?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Do you have a manual, training guide, catalog, or book that could look a lot better, but that just seems too expensive to make happen? Very likely, I can apply the same techniques I've used here to contain costs and make the workflow ultra-efficient. Give me a call and let's discuss it, or click </span><a href="mailto:marc@mcnaughtongroup.biz?subject=I%20want%20to%20talk%20with%20you%20about%20your%20latest%20newsletter."><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>here</span></a><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> and send me an e-mail. I'll be in touch and we can get started. For more examples of my work, please visit my </span><a href="http://www.mcnaughtongroup.biz"><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>website</span></a><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> and click on “Case Studies” in the left-hand menu.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>I hope you’re having a great day, and I look forward to talking with you soon!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><b><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Marc McNaughton</span></b><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Owner | Creative Director</span><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-opFvhDUzkj4/UX2tLun8yHI/AAAAAAAAGDE/AIIw0FOfbAI/s1600/image003-730748.jpg"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-opFvhDUzkj4/UX2tLun8yHI/AAAAAAAAGDE/AIIw0FOfbAI/s320/image003-730748.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5872039906166753394" /></a></span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Graphic Design<span style='color:red'> | </span> Production <span style='color:red'>|</span> Brochures, Books, Catalogs</span><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><b><i><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:gray'>More Business.</span></i></b><i><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> <b><span style='color:#C00000'>Now.</span></b></span></i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>101 South Cross Creek Road, Ste. H<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Orange, California 92869<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>(714) 328-6745<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><a href="http://www.mcnaughtongroup.biz/"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>www.mcnaughtongroup.biz</span></a><a name=webProfileURL><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></a></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Click an icon to follow us on:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-McNaughton-Group/188776242826"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none'><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-khkFj-LEpaE/UX2tMIGMkpI/AAAAAAAAGDQ/jrtJgWvUCik/s1600/image004-732066.png"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-khkFj-LEpaE/UX2tMIGMkpI/AAAAAAAAGDQ/jrtJgWvUCik/s320/image004-732066.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5872039913004503698" /></a></span></a><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> </span><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/mmcnaughton"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none'><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i1hNAI__UuI/UX2tMVSCUcI/AAAAAAAAGDc/nEb84xbw8QM/s1600/image005-733435.png"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i1hNAI__UuI/UX2tMVSCUcI/AAAAAAAAGDc/nEb84xbw8QM/s320/image005-733435.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5872039916543824322" /></a></span></a><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/marc_mcnaughton"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:windowtext;text-decoration:none'><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pfAUxTJwlks/UX2tMmvvkrI/AAAAAAAAGDo/yzBPqmjwwZU/s1600/image006-734458.png"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pfAUxTJwlks/UX2tMmvvkrI/AAAAAAAAGDo/yzBPqmjwwZU/s320/image006-734458.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5872039921231827634" /></a></span></a><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr><td width=638 valign=top style='width:6.65in;border:solid black 6.0pt;border-top:none;background:white;padding:0in .2in 0in .2in'><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><b><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Don't want to receive this newsletter?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>You're on my mailing list because you're either a client of The McNaughton Group or we have discussed working together at some point. However, I don't want to clog up your inbox with unwanted messages. If, for any reason at all, you'd prefer not to receive this newsletter, </span><a href="mailto:marc@mcnaughtongroup.biz?subject=Please%20remove%20me%20from%20your%20newsletter%20mailing%20list."><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>please click on this email link</span></a><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> and let me know. You'll be removed from the mailing list immediately, no questions asked and no offense taken. By the way, I <b><i>never</i></b> give away my client's contact information to anyone unless it's as an individual referral to someone who might bring you business. Your information will not otherwise be sold, rented, or given away. <i>Ever</i>. If you ever have any questions about any of these matters, just give me a call and I'll be happy to answer them at any time.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal'><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></td></tr></table></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4267038259093547613.post-13577490192363082592013-03-11T17:31:00.002-07:002013-03-11T17:35:49.833-07:00Firestarters Newsletter<br />
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<!--[if supportFields]><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><span
style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>IF <span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>MERGEFIELD First_Name <span style='mso-element:
field-separator'></span><span style='mso-no-proof:yes'>there!</span><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span> = "there!" "This post is a
copy of my regular e-newsletter, published to my clients each month. It offers
an up-to-date look at some of my latest projects. " "" <span
style='mso-element:field-separator'></span></span><![endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This
post is a copy of my regular e-newsletter, published to my clients each month.
It offers an up-to-date look at some of my latest projects. <!--[if supportFields]><span
style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span></span><![endif]--><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>IF <span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>MERGEFIELD Friend_Flag <span style='mso-element:
field-end'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>= "X"
"I'm restarting my e-mail newsletter, and while this is mostly intended for
clients, I thought you and my other friends might enjoy seeing some of my
recent work as well. I work with a broad range of clients, on a wide variety of
projects." "I work with a broad range of clients, on a wide variety
of projects." <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span></span><![endif]-->I
work with a broad range of clients, on a wide variety of projects.<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span></span><![endif]-->Yet each client generally asks
for the same kind of work each time, and we rarely discuss the <i>other</i> types of work I do. Sometimes all
it takes is a quick look at different things to spark change and growth in our
own thinking and, with this e-newsletter, I hope to show you real-world ideas
that might help you take your business in new and unexpectedly successful
directions.</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Mountain Hardwear</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Product Catalog</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MRDZ0B9mQRQ/UT52rkk0eiI/AAAAAAAAFgE/xcbCW0d9nKA/s1600/Mountain-Hardwear-Image-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MRDZ0B9mQRQ/UT52rkk0eiI/AAAAAAAAFgE/xcbCW0d9nKA/s640/Mountain-Hardwear-Image-2.jpg" width="482" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">The Client and The Project</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mountain
Hardwear is a manufacturer of high-end camping, mountain- and rock-climbing
gear and clothing. They have a world-wide presence, and sell their product
primarily through third-party retailers such as REI, using a large full-color
catalog. Their in-house design team created the look of this beautiful catalog,
but production on this scale is a very specialized skill. The catalog generally
runs about 250 pages and contains hundreds of products, each with multiple
illustrations and detailed product information and data. All must be layed out
into the design, accurately and quickly. The product information is housed in a
database, often in different units than is needed in the catalog. Four
different versions of the catalog are needed for the major world divisions of
the company.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Our Work Together</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My work
with Mountain Hardwear includes development of special data filters to process
their raw database output - translating units, formatting data, and stripping
out any extraneous characters that might interfere with the final layout. I
designed and built the workflow and templates that allow the automatic merging
of data and product illustrations into the finished layouts, and that allow any
update made to one book to be made simultaneously to the other three without
any manual labor at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">The Results</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We've
cut production time for the books by <i>weeks</i>,
and now produce four catalogs for about fifty percent more than it previously cost
to build just one - a huge cost reduction. The project consumes less time for
the team at Mountain Hardwear, and all four books now have <i>exactly</i> the same data, with no errors that might be introduced by
having separate teams produce each book locally. We use the internet to
distribute electronic layout files to regional printing vendors, saving the
cost of shipping heavy paper books all over the world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you
have a project or idea for your business that involves merging large amounts of
data into a graphic layout, be it for print, eBook, or PDF? It could be a
catalog, a book, an annual report, a report for a client that you'd just like
to look better... There are a huge number of possibilities. Give me a call and
let's discuss it, or click <a href="mailto:marc@mcnaughtongroup.biz?subject=I%20want%20to%20talk%20with%20you%20about%20your%20latest%20newsletter.">here</a> and send me an e-mail. I'll be in
touch and we can get started. For more examples of my work, please visit my <a href="http://www.mcnaughtongroup.biz/">website</a> and click on “Case Studies” in
the left-hand menu.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope
you’re having a great day, and I look forward to talking with you soon!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="goog_1824299763"></span><span id="goog_1824299764"></span><br /></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4267038259093547613.post-54278871425747819212012-07-09T19:19:00.000-07:002012-07-09T19:29:42.646-07:00Case Study - Some of our work<div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">University of Southern
California/Tsinghua University </span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Symposium on Green Technology
and Energy Informatics</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #c0504d; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Program
and Presenter Guide</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dxKgdiNGOT8/T_uQrQTTpbI/AAAAAAAAD1U/jHUA7Wev4-Q/s1600/USC-THU-Program-Guide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dxKgdiNGOT8/T_uQrQTTpbI/AAAAAAAAD1U/jHUA7Wev4-Q/s640/USC-THU-Program-Guide.jpg" width="484" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dxKgdiNGOT8/T_uQrQTTpbI/AAAAAAAAD1U/jHUA7Wev4-Q/s1600/USC-THU-Program-Guide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The
University of Southern California and Tsinghua University (Bejing, China) hold
an annual conference on green technology and energy resources. This
invitation-only event brings together some of the best minds in these fields to
present their latest research. For the second year running, we were contracted
to design and produce the program and presenter biography guide for this event.
Bringing together information literally from the far corners of the world, we designed
an easy-to-use guide that embraces the spirit of the event, with clean layouts
and information presentation that guides the user to the information they need
as quickly as possible. Printed on recycled paper, the guide was a huge hit
both years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Here you
see the cover (opened, with the back on the left and the front on the right),
the combined table-of-contents/schedule guide spread below it, and an interior
spread from the section presenting biographies of the presenters and abstracts
of their presentations, below that. We've provided a couple of inset
enlargements so you can better see some of the detail.</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Can you imagine a way
in which something like this could serve your business? Give me a call and
let's discuss it, or click here and send me an e-mail. I'll be in touch and we
can get started.</span></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4267038259093547613.post-87983875685753302872011-12-15T12:53:00.001-08:002011-12-15T12:53:58.143-08:00Footnotes, and Styling, and E-books, Oh My!<div><p>A while back, I posted that I was launching some internal research into producing typographically-robust books in a manner that would be cost-effective to my customers. It's actually been a lot of fun, as I've worked through the ins-and-outs of developing this workflow.</p>
<p>Anybody can produce an e-book these days. There are free and nearly-free tools out there that make producing an e-book a snap. Producing a<i> quality </i>e-book, on the other hand, is quite another thing. Producing a quality e-book from the same set of files as the full-blown print edition? Holy Grail time, folks.</p>
<p>Here at The McNaughton Group, we've focused upon producing rich, well-designed and typeset printed books in efficient ways that bring the cost down into the realm occupied by vendors of much lower-quality products. We <i>love </i>great typography. Producing a low-quality e-book edition of one of these books is out of the question. Producing a quality e-book edition by running totally separate print and e-book workflows (the way most people do it) is out of the budget for almost every real-world book project. It's a chasm that hasn't been readily crossed - until now.</p>
<p>I'm happy to be able to share that we're in the final testing stages of a workflow that requires the manuscript to be layed out and typeset <i>once</i>, and then exported as full-quality print book on the one hand, and a high-quality e-book on the other, retaining all the rich typography that the e-book platform allows. One electronic layout file, that adapts itself seamlessly to the needs of both media.</p>
<p>How is this good for you and our other clients? The bottom line. You can now afford to get the best of both worlds. You won't have to sacrifice the quality of your print edition to fund the production of an e-book edition. You can have an e-book edition that shares the look-and-feel of your print edition. Future updates and revisions only need to be made to <i>one </i>set of layouts, not twice (and <i>paid for </i>twice) in totally separate workflows. Lower costs. Uncompromized quality. Easier, more-accurate editing.</p>
<p>I told myself that I wouldn't offer e-book production until I could do it this way. That day is here. Starting early next year, I'll be offering full print and e-book design, layout, and production for all our book projects. I hope this will help you in <i>your</i> book projects!</p>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4267038259093547613.post-14993021416767220792011-10-16T10:02:00.001-07:002012-07-09T19:30:00.704-07:00Small, Tiny, Critical Things<div><div><p>Sometimes there are little things that make all the difference. Something you might not even consider might make make or break your experience.</p>
<p>Take backups, for example. We run nightly backups on every project in the shop. Every night. And make backups to off-site every week. Even if a fire takes out the building, servers, and equipment, the work goes on. Your job is safe.</p>
<p>Does your graphic provider run backups? Daily?</p>
<p>Better ask.</p>
</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4267038259093547613.post-64970713836618764012011-08-12T17:30:00.001-07:002011-08-12T17:30:49.221-07:00Back to the Twentieth Century<div><p>It's remarkable how much we depend on the internet - and glaring when the connection goes down. We got it done today, even though it meant we were uploading projects through a cell phone. Thank goodness for unlimited data plans!</p>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4267038259093547613.post-84284473169198557542011-03-16T16:50:00.000-07:002011-03-16T17:08:36.990-07:00Beauty in the Age of E-books, Part 2I attended a wonderful "Lunch and Learn" event today. <a href="http://businessghost.com/">Michael Levin</a>, noted author and specialty book publisher, spoke today on the book as marketing tool. He made some exceptionally good points, and I found myself nodding and agreeing with much of what he said. If you get a chance to hear him speak, I recommend it.<br />
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A question was raised in the presentation with regards to how to differentiate one's book from the other authority-author titles currently flooding the market. In other words, "If I'm doing a book to differentiate myself from other people in my field, how do I differentiate my <i>book </i>from theirs?"<br />
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A very good question.<br />
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Let's face it, authors like <a href="http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/">Seth Godin</a> have made a very good living on books that aren't terribly sophisticated in design or layout. By Seth's own admission, these were farmed out to a graphics student either still in, or just out of, art school. And it shows. Clip art for the cover, Times New Roman for the interior, and fit as much on the page as you can to minimize print costs. But Seth's books are meant for quick impulse sales for those attending his speaking events. Perhaps an equally impulsive sale by people reading his blog. His customers rarely, if ever, are exposed to the opportunity to compare his books to those of his competitors. <br />
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If you're a speaker of Seth's freqency and caliber, it may be a good strategy to save money on the production of your books. But if you're selling on Amazon or on a brick-and-mortar bookstore, that's just not going to cut it. Your prospects will have every opportunity to examine your book alongside those of your competitors. Amazon even lets people read some interior pages before the purchase. In that environment, your prospective reader gets a few seconds to look at the cover, scan a few pages, and maybe read the dust jacket. Your content is getting little attention in this scenario. What counts? As in human relationships, first impressions. How does it look? How does it feel? Is the page readable? Does it <i>look </i>like an authoritative book - or does it look like something you banged out in MSWord?<br />
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Authors like to think that their content is really what a book is all about. That without their content, the book is meaningless. In a very real sense, they're absolutely correct. But the content isn't the <i>only </i>thing about a book that matters. I like to make an analogy to the automobile. One could certainly say that the engine is what makes a car. Without an engine, a car is meaningless. But only a fool neglects styling and comfort in designing and manufacturing a car. Drivers<i>need </i>an engine and, ultimately, the engine creates the purpose and usefullness in the car. But oftentimes the actual <i>purchase decision </i>is driven by look and feel. Even in books, neglect that reality at your peril.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4267038259093547613.post-80181314461354756362011-02-17T16:32:00.001-08:002011-02-17T16:39:25.579-08:00Beauty in the Age of E-Books<div><p>I've been thinking a lot lately about books, book publishing, and the future of both. Because so much of our business depends upon long-document production (from brochures to full-blown books and catalogs) the future of the visual word is a matter we take seriously here at The McNaughton Group.</p>
<p>I count myself a book-lover, but sticking my head in the sand about the surging popularity of e-books seems particularly suicidal, in the business sense. While "the death of print" has been "right around the corner" for a couple of decades now, something is really going on this time, and it looks an awful lot like the first few years of the transition to digital photography from its analog roots.</p>
<p>I actually have no problem with e-books, per se. I have Kindle on my smartphone and I use it. I'm quite seriously considering the purchase of a 'hardware' Kindle in the near future. I see the value in digital book distribution.</p>
<p>No, my problem lies in the notion of CRAFT. Just as the mobile editor with which I'm writing this post forced me into emphasis-by-capitalization instead of the more elegant use of italics for that purpose, so too the current e-book world is a wasteland of craftless... I hesitate to actually use the words 'typography' and 'design' here.</p>
<p>Kindle and ePub (the latter format is used by Apple in its various iOS devices) are both based upon HTML, the language used to lay out web pages. Very little of the nuance and craft available to me in print books is even an option in either of these formats. </p>
<p>So where does someone like me create value in a world of vanilla e-books? Is it possible to create a truly BEAUTIFUL e-book, as much for its visual appearance as for the content contained within that appearance? I think the answer to the latter question may, indeed, be 'yes', but as with all transitional periods, there are few, if any, tools to properly accomplish the task. We're very much back to the 'Dark Ages' of digital production, in the fashion of the worst early days of 'Desktop Publishing', building craft again in a new land. And in that process lies the answer to the former question as well - without efficient tools, beauty becomes an unaffordable, unmarketable luxury in many cases. So we'll be looking at this whole subject very carefully here at The McNaughton Group, and doing LOTS of testing!</p>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4267038259093547613.post-42937926424543633312011-02-16T14:46:00.000-08:002011-02-16T15:10:37.430-08:00Rhapsody: Apple has gone too farWe've been following the latest Apple, Inc. story, regarding content sold through apps on the various iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, etc.) If you haven't heard, Apple just changed their standard agreements to say that any vendor that delivers paid content (subscriptions, books, music, videos, etc.) through an app, now must remove any link to an outside purchase site for the content (usually their own website) inside the app, and instead put in a link to subscribe or purchase that content through the new Apple Subscription Store. They can still sell the content through their own site, but can no longer have anything but a link to Apple's store for that purchase inside the app. <br />
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Sounds fairly innocuous. So what's the kicker? Thirty percent of the gross sell-price goes directly to Apple if something is sold through their store. And the other kicker? Vendors must charge the same price for the content, whether it's sold through Apple or through their own site. No marking up the content in the Apple store to make up for Apple's 'take'. Keep in mind, most of these vendors make less than 30% margin on content sales in the first place. And if the only link in the app to buy content is to Apple's store, where do you think the bulk of purchases will be made? This is an untenable business model for most, regardless of the popularity of the iOS devices.<br />
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You can imagine that vendors such as the New York Times, Amazon.com, and others have a bit of a problem with this. One of them, Rhapsody, has finally had enough. They're pulling their content from the iOS devices unless Apple changes the policy. Presumably others will follow in short order. With Android breathing down Apple's throat in both smartphone and tablet form, I can't see how this policy can stand. Apple is banking on their incredible market penetration to strong-arm content providers into knuckling under to this - I'm going to say it - highway robbery. I think the marketing wizards at Apple are about to get a lesson in hubris.<br />
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Here's a link to an article on the Rhapsody challenge to Apple:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/16/technology/rhapsody_apple_subscriptions/index.htm?hpt=T2">Rhapsody: Apple has gone too far</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4267038259093547613.post-62566313959760872462011-02-12T16:44:00.001-08:002011-06-15T15:41:58.007-07:00Doing it right, doing it wrong.<div><div>A few months back, Tropicana hired a big agency to completely rework the branding on their Pure Premium orange juice line. What ensued was a branding disaster of textbook proportions. Revenues dropped about 20%(!). In short order, Tropicana pulled the branding and the entire campaign that went with it. Millions of dollars in the tank.<br />
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It's easy to take the wrong lesson from this. Should they have 'left well enough alone'? No. The premium orange juice market was in a slump and the brand wasn't the strongest to begin with. Their sales were already weakening and something needed to be done. <br />
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No, the real issue was how this rebranding was specifically handled. It's pretty obvious that the agency involved didn't do a lot of research beyond the tiny slice of market that is orange juice sales. Didn't think about the entire experience of going to a grocery store and looking at so many, many other products than just the OJ. Take, for example, all those generic store-brand products whose branding is uniformly similar to the new one for Tropicana Pure Premium. Oops.<br />
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Visual marketing - that is, branding and graphic design - never operates in a vacuum. It lives and breathes in a complex ecosystem of products and services, each contributing to the visual grammar and context in which the consumer makes their purchase decision. You might have the most fantastic art possible on your brand, but if it looks like something else common in that context, the consumer is going to assume there's a similarity in quality, price, or value to what they're used to seeing.<br />
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Branding your premium product to look like generic products, even of a different type, will kill your brand if the two will be viewed in the same context.<br />
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What's around when YOUR customers view your visual marketing? How is that affecting their purchase decision? </div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4267038259093547613.post-91686924889413686952011-02-07T16:38:00.000-08:002011-02-07T16:39:16.419-08:00Welcoming Mountain Hardwear as a new client.We're very happy to announce that we've just won a major new contract with Mountain Hardwear. (<a href="http://www.mountainhardwear.com">www.mountainhardwear.com</a>) The RFP process showed us that these people are great to work with, have it all together, and really love their product lines. Happy to be working with such a great company! :-)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4267038259093547613.post-47033304208588274562011-02-05T16:24:00.001-08:002011-02-05T16:24:29.874-08:00Recession: A Golden Opportunity!No matter what the politicians (of either party) are saying, you and I know the economy is still down. We're starting to see some glimmers though - notice that the summer wasn't as bad as it might have been? Have you been getting some renewed interest in your product or service? <br />
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So what to do about it? How do you get your sales moving again?<br />
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If you're like almost every company or manager out there, your first instinct in the recession was to cut costs. "Less money coming in, so we need less money going out." By and large, that's not a bad strategy. However, there are two areas where you should have resisted the urge: Training and Marketing.<br />
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Both of these are substantial costs in your budget, and so they seem like likely targets for savings. Wrong. Training and marketing are the two areas that most impact your potential customer's perceptions of your firm. With customers being so choosy about where they spend their money, you simply can't afford to let their perception of you slide even a little bit. If they can't see you in the marketplace, or they are treated poorly by an under-trained representative, they'll go elsewhere. This causes your income to drop even more. At that point, the choice is usually made for even more cost cutting.<br />
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Pilots call this sort of thing a "death spiral."<br />
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The one bright light in this situation is that your competition probably made the same mistake. Their training and marketing efforts are shut down. They're annoying their customers, both current and potential. This makes for a grand opportunity for the smart company - your company - to radically improve your market share, perhaps permanently. Hard as it may seem, it's time to put some money back into training and marketing. Make your company shine. Any money spent in these areas now, in a 'down' economy, is much more effective than money spent in the good times, when all of your competitors are also shining brightly. By cutting their training and marketing, they've made themselves look bad. If you look good, how do you think that will affect your bottom line?<br />
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It's time to get moving again. It's time to grow.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4267038259093547613.post-49711761913332142952011-02-05T16:21:00.001-08:002011-02-05T16:24:53.544-08:00Sell Them What They WantIf you're like most companies, your brochure makes the mistake of being all about you. Naturally your customer needs to know a little about your firm, but that's not what they're looking to buy.<br />
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Think about it: You came to this web site to find out a little more about The McNaughton Group, but unless you have a particular passion for marketing studios, you mostly came to find out if working with us can improve your business. Right?<br />
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Here's one of my favorite sayings: "People don't buy 1/4-inch drills. People buy 1/4-inch holes." You don't buy a drill because you want a twisted piece of metal. You buy a drill because you want there to be a hole in something. If you try and sell someone the very best bit of twisted metal in the world, who needs it? But if you show them that they'll get the best hole in the world by way of your twisted bit of metal, now you have something that someone will buy!<br />
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Think about that for a second, and then think about what your customers are actually purchasing from you. It may be that you're not really selling what you think you're selling. It should then be obvious that you want to sell people what they really want. Your marketing materials should focus on how you're going to solve your customer's problems, improve their lives, make them filthy stinking rich by way of your product and/or service. While every other business out there is pouring it on with dreck like, "We're the best company ever!", you'll show how you can help your customers reach their own dreams. <br />
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Between the two options, who do you think is going to get the sale?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4267038259093547613.post-87347271919313010372011-02-05T16:18:00.000-08:002011-02-05T16:25:12.802-08:00"How Much Will It Cost?"If there's one question I receive most frequently, this is it. Budgets are tight. Margins are thin. It's not an unreasonable question.<br />
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It's also almost impossible to answer without more information and some thinking ahead on the part of the customer.<br />
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The best possible answer to this question is another question: "What's your budget for this project, and what do you hope to achieve with it?" You see, only you can decide if a given expenditure is worth the return you're hoping to get. Let's say you want to increase your gross revenues 15% in the coming quarter and, for your particular business, that means increasing them by $150,000. Spending $90,000 on a series of full-page ads placed in national magazines probably isn't worth it - you're spending half of your goal revenue right up front. On the other hand, spending $800 simply won't buy you enough of a campaign to realistically reach your goal. You'll be throwing that money away. The truth, as always, lies somewhere in-between, and we'll need to discuss that tradeoff together to find the right amount that will give you the best value for your money. <br />
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However, many small (and even quite a few medium and large) businesses have approached me lately asking the "how much will it cost" question, and have only "as much as we can" for a goal, and "as little as possible" for a budget. And folks, there's just no answer to that. It's like walking into a store and asking the salesperson "how much will it cost" without saying what it is that you want to buy. What answer could he or she give you? In the marketing case, your goal could be anything. And how much will it cost to do "anything"? Even if you know that you want a brochure or a magazine ad, the variations on even those relatively concrete items are almost endless.<br />
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So, before you approach any marketing agency, have a concrete goal in mind and think about how much your budget will support to achieve that goal. A real professional will need that information before they can give you a realistic answer to your "how much will it cost" question and whether it's possible to reach your goal with your budget. You see, we in the marketing industry really do want you to succeed. The better you do, the more other clients will want our services. Customer success: It's what we do!<br />
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In the case of The McNaughton Group, once we have this discussion we'll give you a clear written estimate of the costs for your project right up front. You'll have your answer, right there in black and white.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0