Inkhaus is proud to announce the launch of Coastal REO Solutions, a Myrtle Beach-based company offering risk-management & assessment services of bank-owned properties. Dedicated to stabilizing real estate market conditions, CRS is a company moving forward through innovation.

Our task was to develop a brand with a highly professional look. We started with a logo, establishing a corporate identity. We assured the brand would be visible in a competitive market by producing print ads for various major publications. Then Inkhaus designed a media kit brochure and a powerful website that will help define Coastal REO Solutions as the leading asset management company along the coast of the Carolinas.

Inkhaus develops brands by first understanding the client’s priorities. Coastal REO Solutions needed to have the power to provide updated bank-owned property information on their website. Our solution was to develop a searchable custom MLS real estate database that would meet their expectations and needs.  Not only does the website provide the user with a comprehensive & accessible list of bank owned properties, but also allows us to search the entire MLS with custom features, such as:

• Save and track their favorite properties
• Powerful advanced MLS search options
• MLS search results w/ Google mapping
• Property slideshows
• Handy tools such as a mortgage calculator

In addition to these powerful web features, the site has a blog allowing the client to keep customers updated with local and national REO news. The entire website is custom developed in Wordpress, allowing the client to easily update their web content. Inkhaus can truly customize your website to meet any of your needs and requests.

Coastal REO Solutions is developed & driven by innovators who refuse to allow the market to determine their fate alone. Inkhaus is proud to have a partnership with such a company, and we look forward to a long & lasting relationship with tomorrows market leaders.

At Inkhaus, we don’t ‘play favorites’ with our clients. Each have their own set of needs, concerns and ideas about what it takes to move their business forward. It is our job to listen, learn & develop marketing & design concepts that make sense to both the client and the target audience.

However, not all clients are created equally ~ Some make a point to be as involved as possible in each stage of what we do. Others are just as happy to allow the Inkhaus team to build & develop an effective marketing campaign for them. In either case, we are equipped to bring the best ideas to light, growing them into effective campaigns that translate into dollars & cents for our clients.

Jason Ellis is a prime example of a client who is ‘hands-on’ in all the right ways. He takes the initiative to bring us ideas, and has the professional sense to allow us to help develop them into successful strategies. Unafraid to try new ways of communicating (check out his Myrtle Beach Home Blog) and connecting with his client base, Ellis has managed to generate business in an extremely competitive & difficult market.

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Little City Musical Theatre Company was recently given Charleston City Paper’s Best of Charleston 2009 award for “Best New Musical Theatre Company”. It is no small feat to generate this kind of brand awareness in a market known for its abundance of performing arts groups. That’s why Robbi Kenney, LCMT’s Artistic Director & President, decided to keep going strong with the company’s branding campaign in having Inkhaus design this event flyer & poster.

Showcasing a unique series of performances in one of Charleston’s most hallowed dining institutions ~ McCrady’s Restaurant ~ Kenney needed a design that would deliver both the message of the event’s details, as well as bring modest attention to the recent accolades shared by both Little City & the venue, respectively. We decided to bring in a little of the ol’ “Broadway Magic” in designing this piece, tipping our hats to the cabaret style with this eye-catching look.

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One of the biggest challenges in developing an effective web presence for any kind of business is in streamlining the way we update & maintain the site. Businesses evolve, and marketing strategies must also grow to meet the demands of a changing market, fickle customers and new technologies.

Clients come to us because we operate as if we were their own personal in-house design dept. You call us ~ we answer. Your business is changing, and your website needs to reflect that ~ not only once per quarter, but weekly – sometimes even daily. Take a look at the recently upgraded  Sago Plantation site to see an example of how we’re putting the power back into our clients’ hands. Utilizing a CMS (Content Management System) engine powered by WordPress, we’ve set up a customized site that clients can update at will, easily, with no fancy coding knowledge required. If you can use a word processor like Microsoft Word, you can use WordPress!

This client is a Real Estate Developer, and as such, wanted to do more than simply list which properties were for sale, whom to contact, etc. This is a rapidly changing market, and the better we can inform our customers, the more likely they are to buy with confidence. Powering our clients’ sites with CMS technology allows them to attract qualified buyers with greater frequency, driving sales & increasing revenue.

A final point regarding the WordPress engine: we’re able to offer clients access to their website stats in a very visual, easy-to-read format. This improves accountability ~ both in our efficacy as web designers/marketing consultants, as well as for our client’s ability to track what kind of potential customers are visiting their site. This is powerful software that is making a difference in the bottom line for our clients’ businesses.

Are you tired of the time it takes and having to contact your web developer for updates? Are you tired of having to pay for your website updates? Contact us to see how we can help with a CMS  solution giving you freedom and real time content publishing.

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We’re not sure if Oscar, our 227lb Great Dane ~ and Inkhaus Senior Marketing Strategist ~ knows it’s Christmas. He certainly brings cheer to our home & business, so we came up with this holiday greeting card to honor the big guy. And we did it in style!

After working some Adobe magic on the original photo, we sent in the print order with a request to apply a silk-laminate treatment to the card stock. The end result is superior both aesthetically as well as functionally.

This process produces a unique, textured silky feel to the paper ~ although the look & feel is ultra riche, the actual cost for this is only slightly higher than the standard card stock. This treatment also gives the paper water & tear resistance.

Want to check it out? Contact Us with your mailing information and we will gladly send you our Oscar Holiday Card for free.

*image & Artwork courtesy of Jay Mason Art

If I have to hear one more Mannheim Steamroller Christmas song, I’m going to pass out. Seriously.

That’s why I’ve chosen to feature this little gem on our site ~ Duke Ellington’s “Three Suites”: an album containing the Jazz legend’s own treatment of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, Grieg’s Peer Gynt & an original, Suite Thursday, based on Steinbeck’s “Sweet Thursday” novella.

Take a listen to Sugar-Rum Cherry, originally known as Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies (does anyone remember the Ren & Stimpy episode with the “Bloody Head Fairy” that was set to this tune? A Classic!). Watch out for Harry Carney’s sultry Tenor Sax solo on this groove that sways like Uncle Leo after too much eggnog. Duke deftly uses his masterful rhythm section of Sam Woodyard & Aaron Bell, on Drums & Bass, respectively, to make In The Hall of the Mountain King swing hotter than a two-dollar pistol, and twice as loud! Do yourself a favor ~ pick up a copy of Three Suites….

Duke Ellington – Sugar-Rum Cherry

Duke Ellington – In The Hall Of The Mountain King

The Holiday Season can be a difficult time for a lot of folks. A seemingly endless shopping list to conquer, a shrinking budget with which to do said shopping ~ and let’s face it: our businesses don’t run themselves while we’re visiting relatives.

For a lot of us, this is proving to be an especially challenging winter. All one needs to do is turn on any Major Media News Network to hear a chorus of Bah-Humbugs from pundits & politicos alike. It’s about this time that I really start thinking about what is most important to me ~ Family.

As in many households, my Grandfather was an important, central figure ~ truly the patriarch of our family. I spent a great deal of time with him as a young man; his ideals, philosophies & work ethic played a major role in my development, and I hope to pass those lessons on someday soon.

Recently, I visited my Grandfather in the hospital ~ he’s been battling an illness for some time now, and this last stint was a real struggle for him. It is always difficult to see a loved one suffer ~ we continue to want to see them the way we did as children: Strong, Resilient, maybe even Indestructible.

I wanted to do something for him this Christmas that would remind him of the strength and success that characterized his life. His father, Robert Keller Hasty played Professional Baseball from 1919-1924 for manager Connie Mack of the Philadelphia Athletics and was able to share the field with such legends as Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth.

On my last visit to see him, I was given a scrapbook kept of my Great-Grandfather’s illustrious career. Baseball is sacred in our family as it is in many American homes, and many of the values my Grandfather learned & passed on to me were taught through the game itself. Did you share a similar experience in your family? What games and activities were sacred to you and yours? Leave a comment and let us know!

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