Signalfire: Interactive Marketing Solutions

Signalfire Hosts Workshop for Business Social Media

Introduction to Business Social Media

Wednesday, March 24, March 31, & April 7
6:00 – 8:00 pm
The Lodge at Geneva Ridge
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

The use of social media for business has exploded in the past year, and businesses in every industry are feeling the pressure to do “something.” But what? Many business owners and managers may be familiar with Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn on the surface or in their personal lives, but how can they be helpful for your business? Are they helpful for every business? Does utilizing one make more sense than others? If you are using social media, how do you know it’s working? It’s time to get some answers you can trust.

Join Matthew Olson, President of Signalfire, for a three-part interactive workshop to learn about the concepts and the practices of social media for your business. This interactive learning environment will include discussions, hands-on practice, and strategic tips and tricks to help you assess the value of social media in a business environment. Read More »

Chicago Based IT Staffing — Echelon Solutions Group Launches Brand

Echelon Solutions Group approached Signalfire in October of 2009 as the business was just getting started. Needing a complete brand development as well as a dynamic web presence, Echelon relied on Signalfire’s expertise in coordinating every aspect of the project. Signalfire delivered a logo design, a business identity package, a brand style guide, printing and a content managed website that precisely fit their style.

The brand needed to reflect the founder’s passion for competitive cycling. “Echelon” referred to the formation racing cyclists would take to maximize efficiency and team success. Drawing on that concept and imagery, the brand quickly took the very impressive form of movement and teamwork.

Signalfire’s Story Come to Life

One of the most common questions asked by our clients is, “where does the name Signalfire come from?” The answer involves some explanation about me. Being an avid lover of history, the Roman occupation of Britain fascinated me—especially Hadrian’s Wall. To help guard against the native population of Britain, the Romans built a wall running east to west in 122 AD.

The Romans built fortlets, known as milecastles, along the Wall at intervals of one Roman mile. Between each milecastle, and spaced one third of a Roman mile apart, were a series of turrets. The plan is to create a point of light where all the milefortlets and turrets were located, with an additional point of light between each of them.

MacIver Institute Rebrands with Signalfire

Signalfire is proud to announce the launch of the John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy’s new brand and website. The collaboration between Signalfire and MacIver Institute has produced a new logo, an original tagline as well as a fresh identity. In developing the new website, Signalfire has built a content managed site that allows a combination of dynamic and static mixed media content to be delivered to the user in an organized and thoughtful fashion. Additional features such as secure donations, email newsletters and social media integration makes MacIver Institute a leader in state political analysis and reporting.

“We’re proud to have worked with MacIver Institute’s operations team as well as the Board of Directors,” says Matthew B. Olson, President of Signalfire. “The working dynamic and ongoing relationship with MacIver Institute will be an exciting one as we push forward with new projects.”

The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy approached Signalfire in the Fall of 2009 with a challenge. As a political-think tank, how could MacIver Institute brand themselves effectively while delivering academic-quality political policy research and investigative reporting. Their web presence would require incredible organization as well as an easy user interface. All of this needed to be packaged into a clean, contemporary design feel that moved away from the usual “screen-fulls of text”.

Everything has a Brand. Everybody is a Brand.

“10 Tips Obama Can Take From Tiger” was a monumental cover nightmare for Golf Digest. Hitting the newstands just as Tiger’s misdeeds were hitting the airwaves, most people saw this Photoshopped cover and saw nothing but a scandal. However, the most important thing on this cover had nothing to do with politics, sports or scandals. It was about branding. Specifically, their hats.

To most people, branding has fallen squarely into the business camp for quite some time. However, with the rise of the web, interest communities, and social media brands have faced a consumer populous uprising. This transfer of brand power is leading the way for the rise of a “new” type of branding—the personal brand. Much to many people’s surprise, personal branding is nothing new and the rules are strikingly similar to modern business branding.

From Pharaohs building steles, massive spires with their names on it, to the Roman Caesars putting images of their faces on coins, or to a staggering number of other examples—branding a person in one form or another has been with us for thousands of years. With the fall of monarchs and the rise of industry, brand power shifted away from the person and to the business. As businesses grew to global proportions, the idea of brand became firmly ensconced as a business concept.