Blog | Pier 8 Group

The Power of Infographics in Workplace Presentations

Implementing the use of infographics in workplace presentations doesn’t have to be hard. Infographics come in a wide variety of styles, shapes, and sizes; the only limit is your imagination.

Pandas, Penguins and Pigeons, Oh My!

Looking for a way to rank higher in the Google search results? With a little attention to the Pandas, Penguins and Pigeons, you’ll soon be on the road to SEO success.

Are you ready for Google’s SSL apocalypse?

In the next few weeks, Google’s Chrome web browser will begin displaying alert messages on websites and web pages that are not secured by an SSL Certificate.

Google Search: Getting on Page One

Getting your business on Page 1 of the Google search results is a really big deal. In fact, for most small and medium size businesses, it’s one of the biggest things you can do to generate leads or visits to your store. Making it on to Page 1 is an impressive achievement, but getting to the top of …

What’s the buzz on Digital Bees?

Just a few days ago, Pier 8 Group launched Digital Bees, a new interactive marketing agency dedicated to bringing high quality website design and digital marketing services to small and medium size businesses in the Hamilton, Halton and Niagara areas.

New Hamilton website celebrates “all things music”

Where do you go when you want to learn about live music in Hamilton? In the past, you probably would have searched for a copy of View Magazine, or maybe scoured the pages of the Spectator for the latest

Putting the Bite on Ticks

Here at Pier 8 Group we’ve created a poster for the City of Hamilton to highlight the health risks and to demonstrate what we can do to protect ourselves when playing or working outdoors. The poster is targeted to at-risk populations, including pet owners, hikers, campers, anglers and others

Recycling Goes Digital With New App

Need a little help sorting out your recycling? Or a reminder about your next collection day? Now the City of Hamilton has an app for that. It’s called Recycle Coach and you can download it for free from the link in this blog post. Never miss another collection day!

Don’t be slow, clear your snow

I’ve always liked the Weather Network’s slogan “Your weather when it really matters”, and I’ve often wondered if digital ads could give you the same “just-in-time” advertising punch. Turns out they can – and here’s how we’re doing it at Pier 8 Group to get folks ready for winter storms.

Can we have that in Farsi please?

Over the years we’ve had many requests to create marketing materials in other languages – mostly French, sometimes Spanish, and occasionally Japanese. Usually these requests come from universities, government organizations or tourism marketing agencies …

Is Hamilton a Music City?

As the heavens opened up and the rain poured down, washing out streets and a portion of the Gasworks parking lot, we nervously waited to see who would turn out on this hot, humid and torrential night to share their thoughts on our Hamilton Music City branding initiative.

Hamilton Music City

How important is music to the City of Hamilton? Pretty important, we’d say. In addition to some of the finest musicians and songwriters you’ll find anywhere on the planet, Hamilton is home to more than 50 orchestras, drumming groups and choirs and 100-plus venues for live music performance!

Radio Ads and Recycling

If you told me that sounds like a tough challenge, you’d be right. Promoting waste management and recycling with radio ads is hard for a couple of reasons. First, there’s an inherent tension between the client’s need to deliver a very detailed message and our need, as creative marketers…

WordCamp Hamilton 2016

Word up, WordPress fans. WordCamp Hamilton is back again for 2016 and the lineup looks better than ever. For one day only, bloggers and web designers will have a chance to expand their WordPress knowledge on topics ranging from the sublimely simple to the tediously technical.

The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint Presentations

Former Apple-brand-evangelist-turned-venture-capitalist Guy Kawasaki has listened to hundreds of entrepreneurs pitch their ideas, hoping to get funding for their business ventures. Most of these pitches are “crap” (his words)…

What Makes a Great Winery Website?

Unlike great wines, winery websites definitely don’t improve with age, as we recently discovered when we toured the sites of Niagara area wine producers. We visited 98 winery websites in total, grading each on their visual appearance, ease of navigation, quality of content and…

Online Versus Telephone Surveys

Business owners and communication managers are often confronted with the task of conducting research to measure the opinions and attitudes of their customers, members, stakeholders and the public. One of the questions they often ask is, “Can we do an online survey or should we do…

Does Email Marketing Really Work?

A recent study by the Direct Marketing Association shows that email delivers the highest return on investment of all direct response media. Should you be using it for your business? The answer is a hardy “you betcha,” according to a recent survey by the Direct Marketing Association.

Borrow a Bike Like You Borrow a Book

Start the Cycle was created in 2014 by two McMaster grad students, Charles Burke and Justin Hall. They asked themselves the question: How can we help to create a new generation of cyclists? Their answer: Provide easier access! In September 2014, Charles and Justin approached the McMaster…

Design Educators Conference

Each year, in partnership with a different educational institution, RGD Ontario invites design educators to consider the future of creative education. The most recent Design Educators Conference, held on November 14, 2015 at George Brown College School of Design, attracted graphic designers…