Visual Marketing: 99 Proven Ways for Small Businesses to Market with Images and Design

21. Spicing Up the Ornament Market: Using Bright and Unique Online Ads to Build a Brand

The holiday ornament market is one that most people think of for only about one month a year. That's not the case for Darlene Tenes, who, in 2007, was frustrated that she couldn't find any ornaments that reflected her Latino roots. Instead, she made her own. She now sells glassblown Sancho Snowmen, Day of the Dead skeletons, Hispanic pastries, and Frida Kahlos through her company. CasaQ essentially created the Hispanic ornament market on its own, due, in part, to Tenes's zany online marketing and direct-mail campaigns.

Why It Works

CasaQ's online ads are well designed, and although aimed at the Latino market, they appeal to a wider audience of people looking for unique ornaments. The elements of the ads include newspaper clippings, vintage images of women, and Technicolor photos of the ornaments, along with humorous messaging.

The ads are not traditional banner ads with slick graphics. Instead, the ads sometimes look like hand-drawn documents. One ad looks like doodles on a scratch pad with a hand-drawn design of an ornament, along with the company domain name in a script font as if it's handwritten. The CasaQ ornament that resulted from the sketch “sits” on the scratch pad like a paperweight effect—and clearly identifies what the ad is about.

Success Metrics

• After distributing its first press ...