The BLU Group Blog | Advertising | Marketing | Branding

Recently, I watched an episode of Kitchen Nightmares with two restaurant owners who appeared to be off their rockers. It ended up being the first show that Chef Ramsey walked away from, after realizing the owners were just too difficult to work with. I thought the nightmare would end with the show, but they decided to keep it rolling onto their Facebook page.

After the show aired, many people flocked to the restaurant’s Facebook page to voice their opinions on the owner’s actions and attitudes. The owners started calling everyone haters and sinners, which drove additional negative comments their way. Did the owners realize their mistake and try to apologize? Of course not. They continued to lash out and spiral out of control, for what is now dubbed “the biggest social media meltdown (for a business) of all time”. 

Unless your business wants to follow in their footsteps, here are the top 5 things not to do when faced with negative comments on Facebook:

We’ve built hundreds of websites here at The BLU Group – Advertising and Marketing, ranging from financial institutions to pet care. I’m currently working on building a mobile site for one of our clients using an online program. I’ve used this program before (DudaMobile.com) to build a mobile site for our client Dee’s Auto Care Specialists. It worked great and I had the site up and running in a flash.

There isn’t much of a difference (on the front end) between a mobile site and a regular website. A majority of websites built nowadays can usually be viewed without a problem on a tablet or smartphone. But if you want a mobile version of your website, there are some things you need to keep in mind. Here are four tips on what to include, leave out, and link to:

In one way, shape, or form we’ve all volunteered. Whether it was out of obligation or free will, we’ve all dedicated our time, resources, or hard work to serve a cause or organization. As we get older and become wrapped up in our daily routine and all the things we have to do, it’s easy to forget why volunteering was once a fun and enriching thing to do.

While many of you may be thinking that volunteering is not a top priority on your list, when at the age of trying to grow in your career and gain new expertise and experience. What many people don’t realize, is that you can do both. Serving on a committee or advisory board can be a great way to network with other professionals and also to enrich your life.

As business professionals, we have a lot on our plates. There are project deadlines, daily tasks, meetings, strategic thinking, problems that need to be resolved, interns to manage, etc. When we leave the office, we have appointments, children to care for, dinner to cook and lunches to make, household tasks, bills to pay, phone calls to make, and sometimes even school work and projects to finish. If we’re lucky, we may even have a social life to maintain. Before we know it, the day is over and we still have work to do.

With a million things to get done in a single day, how do we fit it all in? It all comes down to time management. Like Zig Ziglar once said, "Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days." Here are some tips to get your day organized so you can keep your sanity.

Depending on the time of year, we can have anywhere from one to three (or more) interns in the office at The BLU Group – Advertising and Marketing. We have interns who are here to learn about social media management, graphic and web design, and account management. The difficult part of having interns is helping them get the most out of their time here while still doing your job. Here are five tips for helping interns get the best experience possible:

Growing your business and increasing profit margins is hard work, especially in the small business sector. One of the ways to succeed in this area is to add new clients on a consistent basis. New clients mean new projects plus added revenue and profit. However, businesses and agencies alike often focus too much effort on adding to their customer base and overlook the value of growing their business through their current clients. 

At The BLU Group - Advertising and Marketing we love our current clients and one of the ways we show that love is by supporting their businesses. Whether it is shopping at their stores, purchasing their products on a regular basis, using their services, or even promoting them on our personal social media pages, we take interest in their business and hold a stake in their success. After all, their business is what keeps us in business.

Let's face it; no one likes to be criticized. When managing a social media page (or multiple pages), you can expect to get your fair share of negativity and rude comments from fans. You may even have bad days where all you feel like doing is drop-kicking your computer and calling it quits. But before you rack up hundreds of dollars in damages, read these tips on how to keep your cool when handling negative comments.

1. Don't take it personally – When people complain about your business, you have to realize that the comments are not directed at YOU. If you jump on the defensive right away, you could miss out on a legitimate issue. Take a deep breath, brush it off, and talk to them. Most customers just want to be heard, and will be happy that you took the time to acknowledge them.

2. Apologize – The first thing you should do is apologize, even if you think their complaint does not merit an apology. The nice thing about using social media is being able to mask your emotions. Even if you're scowling while typing your apology, they will never know.

As a design intern at The BLU Group, I have learned much more than I ever anticipated. With only a graphic design minor at UW-La Crosse, I was not getting a lot of exposure to the world of graphic design. My graphics classes just scratched the surface with everything involved in graphic design, and I knew I needed more experience.

And let me say, I've learned more here than I have in the past three years I've been in college, both in terms of graphic design and advertising in general.

I found The BLU Group at the last minute, and Tony took me on right away. I was nervous at first because I didn't want to be seen as the "young'n," the college student with no experience and who doesn't really know what she is doing. It is also intimidating working with real designers when I don't even have a minor in graphic design yet.

Design inspiration can come from anywhere – fellow designers, nature, music, art, blogs, packaging, etc. One of my favorite places to go to get design inspiration is, believe it or not, my inbox. I have a bunch of e-newsletters that I have signed up for that I use to take a break from my day and get some inspiration. From design to packaging, fonts to websites, and industry news to paper, here are seven of the e-newsletters that I get in my inbox throughout the week/month.

"If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself". We've all heard this quote before and for many Account Executives and Project Managers, these words are part of their everyday mantra. Completing a task yourself ensures it is done to your clients' satisfaction and in their time frame. You also know the brand inside and out and have a firm understanding of the project and the client's expectations so there is an extra sense of confidence that comes with doing the work yourself.

In my role as an Account Executive at The BLU Group - Advertising and Marketing I feel a sense of satisfaction when personally completing a project and feel a connection to my clients when I work hard on their behalf on the various tasks that go into that. However, there are only so many hours in a day and in order to ensure that my time is used effectively; certain tasks within a project have to be delegated to another team member to be completed successfully.  

The idea of delegating can be a challenge at times because as the Account Executive I feel a strong sense of responsibility for the success of the project. So to help me decide when I should delegate the task at hand to another team member, I ask myself these four questions: