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Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Posted: Monday, February 15, 2010 in News
 We’ve been blogging for a while here and since we’ve recently noticed an increase in readership, we thought we’d add a feature that’s been on our to do list for some time: RSS.
From Wikipedia:
RSS (most commonly expanded as “Really Simple Syndication”) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format…The user subscribes to a feed by entering into the reader the feed’s URI or by clicking an RSS icon in a web browser that initiates the subscription process.
So, if you’d like to subscribe to our posts, you can do so by clicking on the icon at the top of the column to the right, or if you’re viewing our mobile version, tap the little menu arrow on the right side of the header and a menu will pop up. Thanks!
Posted: Thursday, February 4, 2010 in News, Pay Per Click
 Brand Labs is now an official Google AdWords Qualified Company! Let the bells ring out and the banners fly!
… but what exactly does that mean?
Well, it basically boils down to two things. First, we’ve exceeded the required minimum AdWords spend within programs that we manage. As a matter of fact, we overshot the minimum by 50% (because we’re a bunch of brown-nosing Google-lovers). Second, we had to have three staffers take and pass the AdWords certification test. We’ve got five, meaning that we overshot that target by 66.6%.
Now, we’re not math scientists or anything, but we’re pretty sure that those two facts make us 116% more qualified than we need to be in order to be totally awesome by Google’s standards. That’s a pretty high percentage of awesomeness, so you may want to check into our Pay Per Click management program… unless you hate awesomeness and high ROI.
 We loooove our iPhones. We’re aware of the stereotypes. We’ve heard the haters and the trolls. We don’t care. Our love is pure and magical and could never be diminished by the nattering nabobs of negativism (we so rarely get to quote Spiro Agnew).
The above-mentioned deep love was a big part of the reason that we introduced iVoloo – the first iPhone friendly Volusion store, back in July of 2008. Back in those days (it seems so long ago), iVoloo was a novelty. We developed it for a client who sells iPhone accessories, then (drunk with iPhone affection) decided to offer it to the Volusion community at large. In all honesty, back then, the need for iVoloo was debatable. There were absolutely excellent reasons to have a mobile-friendly store, but it wasn’t a critical need. Those times have changed.
Do you remember back when the internet was still in its infancy? It wasn’t that uncommon to search for a huge brand name, only to find that they had no web presence at all. You’d just shrug and grab the phone book (remember those?), look up the store and call them to get your questions answered. However, as time went by, an insufficient web presence became harder and harder to tolerate until finally it seemed like a personal affront to go searching for a store online and come up empty. We’ve now reached the point where even the humblest of mom & pop operations are virtually required to have a website, lest they risk the wrath of their constantly-connected consumers. That’s the future of mobile commerce. You can go ahead and ignore it… for now. You can ignore all of the research (here, here and here) that shows that consumers are quickly (very quickly) becoming comfortable with mCommerce. You can frustrate your mobile customers by failing to offer them what they are rapidly coming to expect from their online experience. You can put all of your eggs in your standard site and hope that your customers are tenacious enough to navigate your teeny-weeny little site in search of what they need.
… or, you could get ahead of the curve (and your competition) for less than a thousand bucks. Give us a call. It’ll be easier than you can imagine.
 Asking us to choose a favorite client would be like asking a parent to choose their favorite child. The suggestion alone is completely distasteful to us…
With that being said, Brand Labs is the most bestest client we’ve ever, ever had. They’re so totally awesome to work with and the entire process was an absolute pleasure. We couldn’t believe what an absolute delight they were and here’s what they had to say about us:
“Brand Labs is the best. Period. If you’re thinking of using anyone else, you’re a total dunderhead.”
Now, we don’t condone the use of antiquated Dutch insults, but they said it, not us. Anyhoo, be sure to check out the new homepage and the fancy, dynamic blog feed included therein. It’s the bestest.
Posted: Monday, November 9, 2009 in Brand Labs, News, Testimonials
 We hate to blow our own horn, but we’ll do it if we have to. Luckily, this week, that won’t be necessary. Brand Labs has been featured in the latest issue of Crain’s Detroit Business, in recognition of our entrepreneurial spirit and our ongoing success in the midst of the toughest economic conditions in decades.
Of course, we’re always happy to be mentioned in the media, but we’re a little disappointed that the words “awesome” and “mega-awesome” don’t appear anywhere in the article. We’re sure that this was simply an oversight on their part and we hope to see some sort of correction or retraction in the days to come.
You may read the entire article at CrainsDetroit.com (registration required).
UPDATE: Right now, (as of 10 am on Nov 11) our president, Kevin Harman, is attending Crain’s Salute to Entrepreneurship at U of M’s Dearborn Campus. Drop by and say hi!
Posted: Friday, April 3, 2009 in News
 Yesterday was Picture Day at Brand Labs, y’all! Not only did we get mug shots of (almost) the entire staff, but the outtakes alone were worth the price of admission. After we sort through the hundreds of pictures we took, we’ll share some the more embarrassing moments with you. For now, though, you’ll have to be satisfied with this vaguely unnerving shot of Chris Jackson, our Store Development Manager, simultaneously bringing sexy back and eating a donut.
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