New Oil Spill Shirt Hits Home with Fans Across the US

Burroughs Bitches, a unique online clothing retailer, has hit what appears to be a home run with their new, "I'm tired of all this mother f**kin oil in this mother f**kin gulf" shirt. The oil spill based design features a cartoon on a red background. "The oil spill has been going on for 50 days now and people are fed up." says a spokesperson for Burroughs Bitches.

The Charlotte, North Carolina based clothing line has been quietly gaining popularity over the past year, and what started as a joke is growing into a pretty big deal. Online sales of this and other designs by Burroughs Bitches have been made as far away as Austria and they seem to be very popular in California, Louisiana, Florida, and Texas.

To see the shirt visit: http://www.cafepress.com/JoeBurroughs.453882447

Using New Media to Meet Your Small Business Goals: Part 5

The website acts as salesperson, secretary, and more for many small businesses. However many websites are all but invisible to the major search engines. One way to increase your company’s rankings on search engines is to create valuable content that both matches the subject of and links to your company site. Blogger is quite possibly the best new media tool to do just that. Think of Blogger as your company’s PR channel. Every noteworthy accomplishment, conference, new product, new hire, new client, etc. should be written up using the keywords you want associated with your site. The titles and first few sentences are the most important areas for keywords in your posts. Also be sure to include several links directly to the relevant pages within your site, not just to your main page. This will increase your rankings over time in the major search engines.

This is the fifth in a series of articles covering the topic of new media for the small business. For the complete article please visit www.workingcharlotte.com or pick up a copy of the May 2010 issue of Working Charlotte Magazine.

About the Author - With over 15 years in the Charlotte design community Joe Burroughs brings a range of skills to the table. He has a bachelor’s degree in Communication with a concentration in Advertising from Appalachian State University and a masters of Science in print media from the prestigious Rochester Institute of Technology. He currently chairs the graphic design department at King’s College and is a sought after lecturer on various design topics. Joe is on the cutting edge of new media in the Charlotte community helping retailers and businesses cope with social networking and search engine marketing among other issues. Joe recently accepted the position of New Media Specialist with CGR Creative an advertising agency located in the South End area of Charlotte.

Using New Media to Meet Your Small Business Goals: Part 4

Another common source of lead generation is linkedin. Many businesses dismiss linkedin, as only for job seekers or companies looking to hire new talent, but upon further examination it is a lead generating nirvana for many small businesses. Consultants, printers, marketers, and any company that services either individuals or other businesses should be fishing in this pond. Linkedin provides access to both big fish, large companies looking to hire, and small fish, talent looking for their next opportunity. The key here is positioning your company as a solution to the larger companies or as a resource to the individual job seekers.

This is the fourth in a series of articles covering the topic of new media for the small business. For the complete article please visit www.workingcharlotte.com or pick up a copy of the May 2010 issue of Working Charlotte Magazine.

About the Author - With over 15 years in the Charlotte design community Joe Burroughs brings a range of skills to the table. He has a bachelor’s degree in Communication with a concentration in Advertising from Appalachian State University and a masters of Science in print media from the prestigious Rochester Institute of Technology. He currently chairs the graphic design department at King’s College and is a sought after lecturer on various design topics. Joe is on the cutting edge of new media in the Charlotte community helping retailers and businesses cope with social networking and search engine marketing among other issues. Joe recently accepted the position of New Media Specialist with CGR Creative an advertising agency located in the South End area of Charlotte.

Using New Media to Meet Your Small Business Goals: Part 3

Generating leads is a goal of almost every business and there are several new media options available that help deliver new contacts. Twitter is an obvious choice but many businesses overlook the true power it offers. Not only can you accumulate followers who will receive your updates, but also you can actively network by using twitter’s search functions. A company that specializes in catering might search the phrase “Charlotte Wedding” or “Charlotte Event” and reply to any applicable comments. Again you want to be careful that you don’t abuse this process by being too sales heavy. Think of it as introducing yourself at a party or gathering... after all it is social media.

This is the third in a series of articles covering the topic of new media for the small business. For the complete article please visit www.workingcharlotte.com or pick up a copy of the May 2010 issue of Working Charlotte Magazine.

About the Author - With over 15 years in the Charlotte design community Joe Burroughs brings a range of skills to the table. He has a bachelor’s degree in Communication with a concentration in Advertising from Appalachian State University and a masters of Science in print media from the prestigious Rochester Institute of Technology. He currently chairs the graphic design department at King’s College and is a sought after lecturer on various design topics. Joe is on the cutting edge of new media in the Charlotte community helping retailers and businesses cope with social networking and search engine marketing among other issues. Joe recently accepted the position of New Media Specialist with CGR Creative an advertising agency located in the South End area of Charlotte.

Using New Media to Meet Your Small Business Goals: Part 2

If your business has the ability to create videos of the services you provide youtube is a great tool. If you question the ability of youtube to create brand awareness simply search the phrase “Will it blend?” in your favorite search engine. This will undoubtedly lead you to Blendtec’s website. The buzz for this brand was created by simple yet funny viral videos uploaded to youtube. There is no way to assure your business will create the next viral phenomenon but it is a great way to capture Internet surfers who are already looking for products and services similar to yours.

This is the second in a series of articles covering the topic of new media for the small business. For the complete article please visit www.workingcharlotte.com or pick up a copy of the May 2010 issue of Working Charlotte Magazine.

About the Author - With over 15 years in the Charlotte design community Joe Burroughs brings a range of skills to the table. He has a bachelor’s degree in Communication with a concentration in Advertising from Appalachian State University and a masters of Science in print media from the prestigious Rochester Institute of Technology. He currently chairs the graphic design department at King’s College and is a sought after lecturer on various design topics. Joe is on the cutting edge of new media in the Charlotte community helping retailers and businesses cope with social networking and search engine marketing among other issues. Joe recently accepted the position of New Media Specialist with CGR Creative an advertising agency located in the South End area of Charlotte.

Using New Media to Meet Your Small Business Goals: Part 1

Most small businesses have several common goals first they would like to create brand awareness, next they want to generate leads, and if they have a website they want it to be more visible. New Media can help meet all of these goals. This article will examine new media channels that can help small businesses achieve these goals and more.

One of the greatest free ways to generate brand awareness and connect with clients is facebook. It allows you to create a personal profile and from that generate a company or business page where people can become fans. Through this facebook “Fan Page” your business can create events, send invitations, update information on products or services, and upload pictures, share videos, and more. This also allows you to create links back to pages within your website which can increase your site’s rankings with the major search engines. A word of caution here: do not make all your communication sales based. The power of new media is not direct sales instead it is building relationships. In order to be successful you must constantly consider what value your content brings your audience and how you can leverage that value into building relationships. Only then can it lead to increased brand awareness.

This is the first in a series of articles covering the topic of new media for the small business. For the complete article please visit www.workingcharlotte.com or pick up a copy of the May 2010 issue of Working Charlotte Magazine.

About the Author - With over 15 years in the Charlotte design community Joe Burroughs brings a range of skills to the table. He has a bachelor’s degree in Communication with a concentration in Advertising from Appalachian State University and a masters of Science in print media from the prestigious Rochester Institute of Technology. He currently chairs the graphic design department at King’s College and is a sought after lecturer on various design topics. Joe is on the cutting edge of new media in the Charlotte community helping retailers and businesses cope with social networking and search engine marketing among other issues. Joe recently accepted the position of New Media Specialist with CGR Creative an advertising agency located in the South End area of Charlotte.

What flavor coffee do you like? Ummm... Coffee flavored?!?!

Can someone explain the obsession with making coffee taste like everything except coffee? I am not talking about Starbucks or coffee houses in general here I'm talking about in workplace break rooms. Our coffee selection at work is like the freaking United Nations! We have "International" flavors like French Vanilla, Irish Cream, Colombian Mocha, Hawaiian Kona Floral, Belgian Chocolate, & Dutch Cocoa. These are all awful by the way. We also have Amaretto, Hazelnut, and Caramel flavors to choose from. Also awful. Then there's the Signature Blend... you know, our vendor's basic coffee flavored coffee. This is decent. OK, it's awful too but at least it's not pretending to be something else.

I realize this phenomenon is not limited to coffee, we have ice cream, milkshakes, etc. In fact there seems to be a dairy component to the whole thing. In fact a lot of these non-coffee dairy products try and taste like... Coffee!?!?

I also realize that plenty of people like these products and that if they weren't popular they wouldn't sell and so on. So I've decided to become part of the problem...

Waterbutter! Watermelon flavored butter will be on the shelves shortly at your local mega-mart.

I'm working on getting it packaged in tiny watermelon shapes wrapped in foil for fine restaurant applications but there have been a few consistency issues.

I'll be uploading recipes and the like shortly so keep your eyes peeled!

Staying Busy: staying sane

I have been especially busy the past few weeks and I have pretty much enjoyed every minute of it until the last few days. Since Tuesday evening everything seemed to go wrong. It was mostly an overwhelming amount of minor stuff like software and Internet issues that caused me to redo things 3 or 4 times, or phone conversations where I was misunderstood. The point is that by Friday I needed a break.

That's where Julio and the guys at CGR Creative came in. I showed up just after 4 and they were all grinding out work. Jason was finishing up a brochure for a Veteran's charity, Purple Heart Homes, Tay was tweaking some new content for Security Guard Exchange's website, and Julio was calling back a client that was having issues with another creative agency.

They saw me walk in and Julio said, "Hey let's wrap up and grab a bite." Evidently he had had a bad day as well. Long story short Julio took us all out to Vinnie's for wings, oysters, and frosty beverages! I can't tell you how great it was to sit down with those guys and share the weeks ups and downs. I'm very lucky to have the life I do and especially the friends I have! Thanks guys!