It’s an honor and pleasure to officially welcome you to longguns .45-70 Creative.

For those that have dug this deeply into our site, we feel obliged to reward you for your efforts. That’s why you can look to this blog for a combination of useful insights into marketing communications and life in general, as well as entertaining glimpses into the team behind longguns.

We felt there was no better place to start than with the inspiration behind our name. Now, you may be wondering, “Are these folks trigger-happy or what?” Far from it. Handling long guns for maximum effect is an art. One we don’t take lightly. It requires an appreciation for the mechanics of the technology involved, an awareness of the forces at work in your surrounding environment, along with the need for physical and mental discipline. All traits we bring to our work.

So how does the .45-70 come into play? One of the most legendary long guns ever created was the 1874 Sharps chambered for the potent .45-70 cartridge. It could drop a buffalo with a single shot – at previously unheard of distances. If you ever watched the movie Quigley Down Under, you’ve seen this remarkable piece of engineering in action. The .45-70 serves as a constant reminder to us that carefully targeted stopping power, efficiently delivered, is what today’s creative is all about.

With that in mind, we invite you to consider the firepower we can add to your outfit. We also invite you to stop back from time to time to see what’s new on our frontier.

Life works in strange ways sometimes. A couple years back, Brewer Company was looking to make a big splash when they unveiled their new Saddle Seat product at the American Dental Association’s Annual Meeting.

That particular year, the industry’s biggest event was being held in San Antonio, Texas. The team at Brewer knew there would be plenty of cowboy themed promotions, so they wanted to make sure the promo for their Saddle Seat would be fun, engaging, and above all, stand out in a very crowded and competitive landscape.

Enter one longGUNS team member who just so happens to portray Buffalo Bill in Wild West re-enactments. Brewer’s event promotion featured Buffalo Bill sitting on the new Saddle Seat. The offer was to come by the booth to see the saddle seat and get your picture taken with Buffalo Bill.

During the day, Buffalo Bill delivered engaging, in-booth product demos and strolled the convention center floor handing out promotional flyers directing people to the Brewer booth. At night, he handed out flyers up and down the Riverwalk.

The end result of such inspired efforts not only drove booth traffic and augmented email databases, it got our client and their new product prominently featured on the cover of the Show Daily.

We like to think of it as another example of how we help clients make every shot count.

Whether you’re talking about Sales & Marketing or horsemanship, core principles of communication factor greatly in the success of your efforts.

For example, be clear. Ambiguity is a source of frustration for all involved.

Be consistent with what you’re communicating… and how you’re communicating it. Repetition leads to retention.

Be brief. The quicker and cleaner the message, the more efficient the communication process becomes.

Above all, craft your message from the recipient’s point of view. Speak their language. Put things in ways they can understand and relate to. A big part of that is having a real appreciation for what motivates them. Build in rewards every step of the way. Rewards they value. Then, there are virtually no limits to what you can accomplish.

And never forget to do your groundwork before you ever think about saddling up. It’s rarely fun. You get your hands dirty. You sweat. You get tired. But you can’t get where you want to go without it. If you get complacent or think you can get away with shortcuts here, you’re in for some painful lessons. On the plus side, the harder the setback the more you tend to improve your work ethic next time around.

In the end, the whole process can be a lot of work. But the results are worth it. You establish a sense of trust and mutual respect. Strong bonds and loyalties develop. And if you do your job correctly, you wind up with a powerful partnership that will last a lifetime.