The hardest job for a graphic designer has been, and always will be, how to effectively visualize a concept into an image. Print advertising has the least amount of space of any medium. Designers always need to use our space effectively and efficiently. We don’t get the luxury of using emotion like TV ads can. In the same note, we can’t use sound or visual effects—we can only use images and copy.

This is where the importance of typography comes in. Although you can tell a story with a number of visuals alone, the power of words and how you visually display those words is highly underestimated. The best way to illustrate words is typography.

I feel that the B2B world can really use a boost in typography visuals. It needs a visual that breaks the norm of image, headline, body copy and call-to-action messages. What do you think? Are any of your favorite print ads type alone?

To kick off this holiday week I thought it would be most festive to blog about Thanksgiving. Companies are looking to find new and creative ways to market to their audience and reach more current and potential customers. Smartphone applications are one way of doing that. So in honor of Thanksgiving, here are five FREE applications you can use to bring out your inner pilgrim:

1. Chow Thanksgiving Dinner Coach
   You choose which dishes you want to make, and Chow gives you a step-by-step timeline that guides you through the entire Thanksgiving day (and the two days before, too).
2. Turkey Hunt
   Turkey Hunt is a point-and-shoot game akin to the NES classic “Duck Hunt.” The good news, of course, is that turkeys are generally fat, slow and can’t fly so anyone should be a master hunter.
3. Thanksgiving Dinner Maker
   This app gives you the option of choosing from several virtual foods and arranging them together on virtual plates and tables. Maybe this app can help you visualize the perfect Thanksgiving dinner arrangement so you don’t accidentally place the turkey directly on top of a mound of cranberry sauce.
4. Black Friday Survival Guide
   This app helps you keep track of all the Black Friday sales going on in your area and also lets you create shopping lists of all the things you want to buy.
5. Interesting Thanksgiving Facts
   This app contains a number of facts that you may or may not know about Thanksgiving. If nothing else, it will give you something to talk about during awkward lulls at the dinner table this year.

Want more applications to help you thrive (or just survive) the holiday? Click here.

Did you know Canyon does apps? We’d love to tell you about them.

To be a good B2B content marketer, it is very important to understand your audience. In addition to understanding their motivations and role in an organization, it is critical to know what information they will seek in each stage of the buying cycle. That’s where content mapping comes in.

Content mapping simply means developing different types of content and delivery mechanisms based on buyer personas and stages in the buying cycle. Because B2B marketers are attempting to connect to multiple decision makers in each organization throughout a long and complex sales cycle, it is of the utmost importance to build a framework that serves up content which meets their needs and appeals to solving their specific pain points.

So, what does an effective content map look like? Well obviously this will vary based on your product or service, industry and a variety of other factors. However, here are a few guidelines:

1. Keep it simple at first, then get more complex: Early in the sales cycle, ‘awareness messages’ delivered in compelling ways, such as video, will work just fine to get attention and draw your prospects in. However, as they move down the purchasing path, you need to provide more complex information, like case studies and white papers.
2. Figure out your buyer personas, then target them with content: You may be marketing to purchasers, users, influencers and gatekeepers, so you must have specific content that appeals to each of them. An easy way to do this is to start with job titles. Put together an e-book or white paper titled ‘5 thing every CFO needs to know about cutting IT costs.’ Another example would be ‘An IT Director’s guide to gaining better efficiency with cloud computing.’
3. Remember to map your delivery mechanisms: It’s also important to map your delivery mechanisms to the buyer personas and stages in the sales cycle. Early stage awareness messages might be delivered by your company blog or online banner ads, but more complex messages should be delivered via nurture e-mails and even direct mail.

Do you have a content mapping strategy for your organization? How many buyer personas are you targeting? What content do you offer during different stages in the sales cycle and what delivery mechanisms do you use?

When I was growing up, every day started with a bowl of cereal at the kitchen table while Dad read the newspaper. Today, as the parent of a high-schooler, I glance at my daughter’s Facebook page and digest integrated mobile feeds to begin both my family and work day. And, after reading Mashable’s recent B2B Social Media infographic, my breakfast social media ‘diet’ is expanding.

What’s your appetite for social media? Today, a reported 86% of B2B marketers use social media; which is a higher percentage than most people would expect. You may now be asking yourself: how do I use social media in my 2011 marketing plans?

Take a deep breath; you still have ample opportunity to include social media in your 2011 strategic plan. And—while you were focused on maximizing existing sales and marketing channels—others have been testing and proving the increasing value of social media in the B2B context. So, now you can learn from emerging best practices; and eat your competitor’s lunch—with less trial and error!

And while it may seem that the recipe for marketing success is changing again, you can rest assured that “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Fundamental business and marketing principles do apply, and resonate in social media.

Grab a cup of joe and join us as we journey through varied components of social media in an ongoing series of posts. We’ll look at social media in digestible bite sized pieces; always measuring the direct applicability to your B2B business model with an emphasis on ROI.

As an appetizer, please share your culinary ranking and gain a real-time perspective of where you stand in the social media food chain.

• Take Out Taxi:  Currently taste testing social tools on a personal basis
• Microwave Master: Enjoys pre-packaged social tools like e-mail
• Sous Chef:  Has a successful social channel of choice – like email – as a ‘signature’ dish
• Chef de Cuisine:  Garnishes every blog with a sprinkle of Twitter and hint of Facebook