Cultural Sponge Helps Phoenix Pride Celebrate it’s 30th Anniversary by donating over $10,000 in Services.

PHOENIX, Arizona, May 3, 2010— Cultural Sponge Helps Phoenix Pride celebrate it’s 30th Anniversary by donating over $10,000 in Services. Thousands of people attended Phoenix Pride weekend on April 17 & 18. Phoenix Pride celebrates and promotes the history, courage, diversity and future prosperity of the metropolitan Phoenix LGBT community. Every year, Phoenix Pride holds its annual Pride Parade and Festival to commemorate the birth of the gay and lesbian rights movement, but this year was special, it was Phoenix Pride’s 30th anniversary. Cultural Sponge donated services in 2009 and continued to prove their commitment to the LGBT community by donating services to Phoenix Pride 2010.

Heather Brown is the owner of Cultural Sponge, a marketing, graphic design and social media company. After a successful 2009 campaign, Phoenix Pride chose Cultural Sponge again as their 2010 official graphic design company. This year Heather developed the 30th anniversary theme: 3 Decades, 1 Community, 4 Pride! Along with developing Phoenix Pride’s 2010 theme, all other art direction and art work was developed by Heather and her company.

Heather Brown quotes, “It has been a pleasure and honor to work with Phoenix Pride during their 30th year anniversary. I would like to personally thank Phoenix Pride for once again choosing Cultural Sponge as the official graphic design company for 2010. It has continued to be a wonderful experience working with such a positive team. Also, it has been an honor to work on a project that means so much to the community.”

Phoenix Pride relies on many volunteers for a successful festival. Brandi Sokolosky is the Executive Director for Phoenix Pride and quotes, “Heather Brown and Cultural Sponge has been an absolute pleasure to work with. Its wonderful to have formed such a strong relationship with Heather and Cultural Sponge, they really understand who we are as an organization and what Phoenix Pride’s message is to the public. Heather spends a great deal of time sitting in brainstorming meetings with the Pride team, she really listens to the customer and gives you exactly what you are looking for. Throw Heather a concept and she can run with it, she has a great imagination. I look forward to working with Cultural Sponge on future projects.”

About Cultural Sponge
Cultural Sponge is an established marketing & graphic design company based in Peoria, Arizona. Cultural Sponge specializes in corporate identity brand building, graphic design, website design, social media, lead development and much more!

About the owner: Heather Brown attended Arcadia University and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts concentrating in Graphic Design. She worked as a National Marketing Director for a well known company before opening her own business.

Classes

Owner, Heather Brown, has been teaching classes for economic development departments, real estate companies and other businesses. Customized classes are available, but here are the most popular classes.

• Marketing I – Learn how to grow your business. Learn about the importance of  branding, logos vs. branding and marketing tips.

• Marketing II – learn how to strategically create marketing plans, leads, farms, postcards, overview of social media. Students will create a 6 month marketing plan.

• Do-it-yourself Marketing – Learn marketing tips and tricks you can do yourself on a budget, learn what directories get the best results, how to get free leads and more!

• Cold Calling Class – In this market, we all need to do everything possible to get business. In this class you will overcome the obstacles of the infamous “cold call.” Practice making “fake” calls in class and learn some pointers –

• Publisher beginner class – learn the basic foundation of publisher and how to make flyers and postcards, comes with a cd of templates

• Publisher intermediate class – learn how to make publications and some short cuts, comes with a cd of templates

• Publisher advance class – learn about html email newsletters, style sheets and publication design, comes with a cd of templates

• Twitter Basics – Learn what Twitter is and the basics. Students will learn how to set up an account and twitter lingo.

• Twitter for Realtors – learn how to strategically use twitter to connect with clients and list homes. Learn common mistakes that Realtors make while tweeting.

• Twitter Professional Tips – What the big marketing companies don’t tell you. Learn how to find genuine followers, track results, get more followers quickly and more secrets!

Contact us to book a class or to learn more!

Getting a lot of friend requests from people you don’t know, but are friends of friends? I always accept those requests (if the person does not seem like they are spammers.) Recently, I tested out a reply message to this type of friend request. Here’s my reply message:

Hi,
Thanks for the friend request! I see that we have some friends in common and thought I would tell you a little more about myself. I own a business called Cultural Sponge specializing in graphic design, websites, marketing and strategic twitter accounts. I am the official graphic design company for Phoenix Pride and other local organizations. You can check out my work at www.culturalsponge.com
I would love to know more about you and your company!
Have a great day!
Heather

This is a non intrusive way to say- Hi, since we are now friends, let me tell you what I do and how I can help you! I received several positive reactions and learn that my new friends are either business owners or know business owners that I can help and I even got a few appointments.

So, next time you get a friend request from a friend of a friend, don’t ignore it, use it to your advantage!

These tips may seem like no brainers, but it’s always to good to review your business marketing efforts.

• Make it easy for people to do business with you -For example:  if a client wants to pay with a credit card and you don’t accept credit cards, find a way to make it work.

• Constant Contact, Follow-Up and Follow Through with all Customers – Once is never enough! Be in front of your clients through emails, phone calls and networking events. Always follow up after meeting a new potential client. Try to arrange a meeting or coffee.

• Always Grab the Attention of Your Target Audience – Go out on a limb and be unique! This will set you apart from your competitors.

• Always Ask for the Sale – seems simple right? After every phone call or meeting simply ask, “Is there anything I can help you with today?

• Great Brands are CONSISTANT - Customers won’t remember your logo if they only see it once or if it looks different each time. Your logo needs to look the same each time it is reproduced. It also needs to look good and be the right resolution for the appropriate project. (print, web, embroidered on clothing,  on a billboard, a vehicle wrap, a pen…)

• Appreciate Your Customers – Giving referrals is the best way to appreciate your customers! You can also send handwritten thank you notes, drop off small gives or simply say, “I appreciate your business!”

• Don’t Waste Your Adverting Dollars by only placing one ad- REPETITION = RESULTS

• Get behind a Local Charity – This may get you press, but more importantly makes you feel good!

• Collect email/mailing addresses and send out newsletters

• Build Strategic Alliances for Referrals – Join Chambers, Meetup www.meetup.com and Networking groups