Did you know that Pepsi paid $1 million to design their logo?

That might sound excessive, but Pepsi knew the importance of good design. Some other brands who also got the message include McDonald’s, Apple, and Nike, all of whom can be recognized by millions of people from just their logo!

Whether you’re aiming for global fame or just want to build up local recognition, a logo is always a good place to start. But how do you design yours?

Find out more in our guide to how to create marketing logos to win over your audience.

1. Define Your Brand

Logo marketing is all about showing the world who your brand is. You really want your design to show off the personality of your brand, but to do that you have to make sure you know it too. Here are some questions to help you work out your brand identity:

• Why did you start your business?
• What are the most important values in your business?
• How do you stand out from competition?
• What 3 words best describe your brand?

2. Do Your Research

Once you’ve worked out who you are, it’s time to do some research. Start by finding inspiration from other brand logos and compiling a mood board. You could make a physical board or use a website like Pinterest so you can share it easily. 

You also need to check out the competition. Look at what colors they’re using, the style of their designs, and how their brand personalities are coming across. You can use some of this for inspiration but make sure your logo ideas are different enough to stand out. 

3. Choose Your Design Style

Once you have a clear idea of what you need, it’s time to move onto logo design! Start by deciding on the styles you like. Some different options include:

• Classic and traditional
• Retro
• Minimalist
• Quirky and fun
• Hand drawn 

4. Look at Color and Typography

When creating marketing logos, color is vital. Not only should this help bring out your brand personality and tie in with colors you’re already using, it can also be used to influence your customers. Look into color psychology to find out more!

5. Work With Your Designer

Just as when creating content, where you’d use a company like Farm Fresh Content Marketing to get the job done properly, you need a logo designer. You’ll need to communicate effectively with your designer. Make sure they know all the information you’ve collected above and you both have a clear idea about the kind of logo you want. 

If you’d prefer to design yours yourself, use an online logo maker to create it. These tools make the design process a lot easier and quicker, and you can build a professional logo in less than an hour!

Create Professional Marketing Logos

Once you’ve been through these steps and found an awesome designer or logo maker, it’s time to start creating your marketing logos! You should have a few different options designed so that you can pick the perfect logo for your brand.

If you enjoyed this article, be sure to check out more on our website!

Did you know that 60% of all travel searches start on mobile? People are searching online for where to stay, where to eat, and what to do. So, if you want to increase your nightly capacity at your hotel, you need to be online.

You can attract your ideal visitors to your hotel by attracting them to your website first. If you’re wondering how your website marketing strategy can help your hotel grow, then you’re in the right place.

Don’t spend any more time wondering how content marketing can increase visitors to your website. Keep reading to learn five ways SEO can help your hotel increase your capacity every night. 

1. Target Your Ideal Visitors With Targeted Keywords

Go further than simply targeting “hotels in your city” and target your ideal visitors. You can do this by writing articles about the museums in your city or the top dog parks in your city. These articles will attract people who want to visit your city but aren’t sure if they can find a pet-friendly location. 

2. Attract More Visitors With List Posts

Some visitors aren’t sure where they want to go, so list posts can be a great way to cast a wider net for future clientele. Use your favorite keyword finder software to target searched for terms such as “top cities for families.” Include your city and hotel in your article and you’ve naturally incorporated your search and your sales pitch without seeming spammy. 

3. Guest Post on the Sites Your Visitors Are Also Visiting

Your content marketing doesn’t have to stop on your own webpage. Write great content for several travel blogs and you will reach a much larger audience. Link back to your website and you’ll naturally drive visitors back to book with you.

4. Optimize your website for maximum ROI

Nobody likes a slow website. In fact, most people will leave your site if it takes longer than three seconds to load. So don’t neglect the technical side of your site, be sure to optimize it so it is running smoothly and quickly. 

5. Get Help When You Need It for Your Marketing Strategy

You don’t have the time to spend hours on your website and blog. So, outsource your content marketing to an expert who can help you grow your business through organic search. Your hotel SEO marketing is too important to leave to chance. Bring on the experts and watch your business skyrocket next vacation season. 

Increase Visitors To Your Hotel by Driving Visitors To Your Website

You want to increase your hotel capacity night-over-night. That begins by driving visitors to your website and gaining their trust with helpful information.

People are visiting your city every day. But are they staying with you? Get visible and share your love for your city through your blog and optimized marketing strategy. 

That will, in turn, drive traffic to your hotel and raise your bottom line. Don’t stand empty any longer. Use the valuable real estate on your website to get visitors and grow your guest list naturally and organically with content marketing. 

For more great information on this and other topics check out the rest of our blog. 

So you’ve invented something, that’s amazing! Now you may be thinking about how to protect your invention and make sure you get the credit for your discovery.

At this point, you may have come across the word patent and be asking yourself what is a patent? We’ve gathered all the things you need to know about patents in one convenient place do you don’t have to go searching.

If you want to know what a patent is, if you need one, and how you go about getting one keep reading to find out!

What Is a Patent?

A patent is a legal license granting the right and title to an individual or company to be the only one that can make, sell, or us an invention. The patent will exclude anyone else from recreating the same invention to profit off of. 

Patents are similar to copyrights and are granted legally for a certain period of time. It will need to be reapplied and renewed once the period ends so that another individual or company doesn’t buy out the patent. 

What Are Patents Useful for?

What is a patent useful for? Protecting your intellectual property and a means to have a legal case against intellectual property theft. 

Say for example you create a new machine or a new way of doing something that will revolutionize the market you will want to protect this idea from it getting stolen. You’d do this to protect that idea from getting taken from you and someone else profiting off of your idea. 

In the event that someone does steal your idea, a patent allows you to make a legal claim against the individual or company that stole it. Since you hold the patent rights, you can take the idea thief to court and not only get any money they made off your idea but also have them pay you a sum for the theft.

How Do I Get a Patent?

We’ve covered what is a patent, now we’ll look into how to get a patent.

The first thing you’ll want to do is collect all your paperwork for your invention including and notes and research that prove that the idea was fully and one hundred percent yours. The patent office will need undeniable proof that the invention that you’re bringing to them is not a replica or stolen from someone else.

The second thing to do is check to see if your idea qualifies for patent protection. There are quite a few things required in over to qualify for a patent. You will need to make sure your patent is unique and the first of it’s kind.

It will also need to be something that works and has a useful function. You will also need to make sure that it meets the criteria of inventiveness, meaning that it will have to be something that’s completely new or an improvement to something that’s already existing.

Next, you’ll research the marketability of your idea. There is no point in getting a patent on something that isn’t going to sell or be in demand. This is especially true if you have a specific business in mind that you’d like to start with your idea or a business you’d like to partner with.

Because a patent is a legal document filing next thing you’ll need to do is get in touch with a patent law firm and hire an attorney. 

A patent attorney will walk you through the necessary legal paperwork and documents necessary to file for your patent. They will let you know whether or not your patent will qualify for protection and make sure that you have all your paperwork in order for filing.

Once your patent is filed and signed by the attorney, you will wait until you hear back from the patent office to confirm your patent approval or deny your request. The process can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Your lawyer will be able to tell you the timeline of what to expect.

What Else Should I Know About Patents?

Not everyone will qualify for a patent so it’s important not to get discouraged if you are denied your patent request. Talking to a lawyer before going through all the paperwork filing will make the process less disappointing and easier as they will be able to tell you whether or not you will get approved.

Every step of the way you’ll want to make sure you document everything along your invention creation journey as you’ll be required to submit all your proof, and sometimes the patent office can be ruthless. 

Keep a detailed notebook of your scribbles, testing, and ideas so that you can provide it as proof. Even scraps of paper that you’ve jotted down a formula or a couple of lines regarding the invention can and will be beneficial in your patent application.

Once you get a patent keep an eye on the expiry date of it, as you’ll need to make sure you’re on top of renewals and not miss the deadlines of your renewals. This will also prevent someone else from coming along and using your invention freely because the patent is no longer valid.

What Is a Patent? Now You Know!

Now armed with a list compiled with everything you need to know about patents, you’re well on your way to know whether or not you need a patent if you’ll qualify for one, and what you need to have one. 

No need to wonder about what is a patent any longer.

Remember, keep all your notes regarding your invention even if you think they may be trivial and not a big deal as the patent office will want an entire collection of your creation process.

Like what you’ve read? Check out the rest of our site for more informative content!

There are around 119,000 professional photographers in the U.S and whether it’s capturing the happy couple on their wedding day to breathtaking landscapes, photography is like no other art form.

Like everything, great photography arises from plenty of practice. Perhaps you’re eager to experiment with digital photography but you’re not sure where to begin. Sound familiar?

If so, you’ve come to the right place. Here’s everything to know about digital photography for beginners.

Learn How to Hold Your Camera

When covering digital photography basics, it’s important to learn how to hold a camera. Use both hands and if you’re using the viewfinder, hold the machine close to your body so you have extra stability.

Make sure you don’t move while shooting otherwise the light will blur the photo. You can even hold your breath when you snap a photo to prevent the camera shake.

Understand the Exposure Triangle

No list of digital photography tips is complete without mentioning the exposure triangle. These are the three most important elements of exposure: ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. As you familiarize yourself with the camera, you must balance these three so you get sharp photos.

ISO controls the camera’s light sensitivity so when the ISO is low, the camera is less sensitive to light. And vice versa. Your ISO should be between 100 to 200 when you’re shooting in the day and 400 to 800 at night.

The aperture is the opening of the lens and it controls how much light seeps into the camera’s sensor along with the depth of field, the area surrounding the focal point of the image. When the aperture is wider, more light is let through but it has a narrow depth of field, fantastic if you want to isolate your subject. But if you want to focus on an entire group of people, use a narrow aperture.

And the shutter speed is the amount of time the shutter stays open while snapping a photo. So when you want to freeze a rapid-moving object, choose a shorter shutter speed as a long shutter will blur moving objects. Experiment and keep changing your ISO, aperture, and shutter speed so you can see the differences in images and learn how each individual element works.

Be Careful With Flash

An important factor in digital photography is flash. Your camera’s built-in flash at night or in low light causes red-eye or harsh shadows which isn’t desirable.

But sometimes you’re in a low-light setting and you have no choice to use flash. To accommodate this, go to the flash settings and reduce the brightness as much as possible. You can also try diffusing the flash’s light by placing opaque tape over it for a softer look.

Experiment With Perspective

All beginner digital photography students must play around with perspective so you don’t get standard, eye-level photos.

You can either change your elevation by going closer to the ground or switching up your angle like facing upwards. And try getting closer or farther away from the subject to see which looks best.

Play around with a combination of all three and you’ll notice how different your photos feel.

Understand the Rule of Thirds

One of the most famous photography tips is the rule of thirds.

This is where you place your subject a third of the way in as it’s stronger than sitting in the middle. Use your camera’s gridlines to help you. Photography is all about creativity so you don’t always have to abide by the rule of thirds but it’s important to understand it at the beginning.

Pay Attention to the Background

Keep the background clutter-free so it doesn’t pull the viewer’s attention away from your subject. Neutral colors and simple patterns work best because they complement the point of interest instead of overshadowing it.

Don’t worry if your background is busy, there are ways to fix it. For instance, change your angle or use a wider aperture and get closer to your subject.

Know About White Balance

White balance is where you tweak the light colors so they appear more natural. You can either set it to automatic on your camera, which is advised, or adjust it depending on your desired tone.

If you want to modify white balance as you shoot, change to Raw setting so you can alter the white balance in the editing stage instead.

Invest in a Great Photography Editing Software

Whether it’s learning how to get lightroom presets on mobile app or getting a photography editing software on your computer, editing photos is a critical stage in digital photography.

You don’t have to go overboard with editing, you may only tweak the brightness or contrast, but it lets you make amendments if necessary. It’s easy to make a mistake when editing so play around with the sliders and effects and see if it adds or takes value away from the photo.

Look After Your Camera Properly

Although it’s not a technical tip, it’s important to care for your camera. Get a special cleaning kit for your LCD screen and camera lens to wipe off any smudges. Always keep your camera in a special case and if you’re shooting in winter, wrap your camera in a plastic bag with silica desiccant packets to prevent moisture build-up. 

Those Are Our Digital Photography for Beginners Tips

Now you know digital photography for beginners tips to get started.

Get comfortable with holding your camera and familiarize yourself with the exposure triangle so you learn about the individual elements. Apply the rule of thirds to your photos and play around with perspective to get great photos.

And don’t forget, post-processing is just as important as the shooting. Good luck! 

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